Who will pay for the funeral?

annie-c wrote: »

Olive, I was recently in the position of helping someone in the situation you are describing, until it came to light that the deceased family member had left an estate that would cover the funeral costs. It was an extremely difficult time and I sympathise with you.

The information that I found was that there are aspects of the system that are the same nationwide, and other aspects that differ regionally.

The issues that are the same nationally (well, actually, I can only speak for England and Wales) is that in the event that the deceased died with absolutely no estate, then the next of kin can apply for a Funeral Payment, which is a grant that will cover part, but not all of the costs of a basic funeral. The payment covers the costs of cremation fees and approx £700 towards a basic funeral (ie the collection and preparation of the body, coffin, transport of the coffin to the crematorium, disposal of the ashes, etc). Unfortunately, the most basic of funerals in the area I was looking came to £1100 plus cremation fees, leaving a shortfall of £400. (We found that "basic" or "simple" funerals were advertised and had their own webpage on several independent funeral directors' websites, and when we made enquiries, there was no attempt to hide this or charge us more than we wanted to pay). Eligibility for the Funeral Payment is dependent on the next-of-kin's financial income (or, if not the direct next of kin, someone who passes a set of criteria for being reasonably responsible for making the arrangements).

If there is no way that the family can meet the shortfall, then what happens next depends on local/individual circumstances. If the deceased ever served in the armed forces or belonged to any other organisation with a benevolent fund, they will sometimes be able to help. If the family is able to make a small deposit on the shortfall, some funeral directors will offer credit terms for repayment in installments.

If there is absolutely no-one able to take responsibility for payment/arrangements of the funeral, then it becomes the responsibility of the local authority to arrange a funeral under (I'm sorry this is so harsh) the Control of Diseases Act. It then depends on the local authority whether the funeral will be a private cremation, or whether the chapel of rest will be open to family and friends.

It is a horrible, horrible situation and in the case I was helping with, it was fortunate that there turned out to be an estate from which to pay the costs. I know this is an issue on which the CAB have been campaigning and I hope that the situation changes in future.