If you're on a low income and need help to pay for a funeral you're arranging, you may be able to get a Funeral Expenses Payment from the Social Fund. You may also be eligible if you get Support for Mortgage Interest loan payments. The Child Funeral Fund is available as a one-off lump sum payment to cover the expense of a funeral of the death of a child under the age of 18, or stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy. There is no entitlement to the Child Funeral Fund if you have already received a payment from any other Government funeral expenses or bereavement schemes.
You must apply within six months of the funeral. How much you get depends on your circumstances. The Funeral Expenses Payment can help pay for:. The Department for Communities works out how much help you can get will also look at how much money, other than your personal savings, is available to help you with the cost of the funeral.
This could include money from the estate of the person who died and from insurance policies. It does not include money from arrears of benefit, Bereavement Support Payment or contributions received from charities, friends or relatives towards the cost of the funeral.
You can find the full list of what can be included in the Funeral Expenses Payment claim form. If the funeral director has been paid, the money is paid into your bank, building society or credit union account. The estate includes any money or property they had but not a house or personal things left to a widow, widower or surviving civil partner. When the Department for Communities works out how much help you can get, it will also look at how much money, other than your personal savings, is available to help you with the cost of the funeral.
It does not include money from arrears of benefit, a Bereavement Payment, Bereavement Support Payment or contributions received from charities, friends or relatives towards the cost of the funeral. The date the claim form is received in a Department for Communities office is the date payment will be considered from, not the date you downloaded or received the claim form. You can claim a Funeral Expenses Payment by phone, by downloading a claim form or by asking for a form. Call the Bereavement Service helpline.
