Funeral Payments
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how people who are responsible for funeral costs and in receipt of a qualifying benefit have an application for a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment refused because of the family tests in the eligibility criteria in each of the last five years.
Answered by Torsten Bell
Table 1 shows the number of applicants responsible for funeral cost who were receipt of qualifying benefits but were refused a Funeral Expenses Payment due to the family test reasons below:
- There is a surviving partner
- There is a closer relative
- They are not a partner, friend or relative
Table 1: Funeral Expense Payments- Refusals linked to the Family Test
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Number of Refusals | 1,100 | 900 | 1,200 | 1,200 | 1,000 |
Notes:
- These figures have been estimated using unaudited internal DWP Management Information which is not quality assured to the same extent as Official / National statistics.
- These applicants are assumed to have been responsible for funeral costs and to have been in receipt of a qualifying benefit.
- Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
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