Funeral Guide 2018

KNOWING YOUR BENEFITS WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO GET HELP TO PAY THE COSTS OF A FUNERAL

widowed mother’s allowance. Bereavement payment, bereavement allowance and widowed parent’s allowance are available in England, Scotland and Wales only. Bereavement Service This telephone service can take details of someone’s death. The service also checks if the surviving husband, wife or civil partner can claim help with funeral costs or other benefits The Bereavement Service is a telephone service that lets you: n Tell different government departments that someone has died with just one call. n End a benefit claim for someone who has died. n Find out if you are eligible for benefits because your husband, wife or civil partner has died. n Make a claim for bereavement benefits or a claim for help with funeral costs. The Bereavement Service helpline is run by the Pension Service but deals with calls about people of any age who have died. Telephone: 0345 606 0265 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm) Details about all the benefits and advice available can be found on www.direct.gov.uk

you must also be either: the partner of the deceased when they died; the parent of the deceased child, or have been responsible for the deceased child, and there is no absent parent (unless they are getting one of the above qualifying benefits or were estranged from the child at the date of death); the parent of a stillborn child; a close relative or a close friend of the deceased (and it is reasonable for you to accept responsibility for the funeral costs). Bereavement payment You may be able to receive a one-off payment or regular payments if you have been bereaved. A bereavement payment is a one-off lump sum based on your late husband or wife’s national insurance (NI) contributions. It used to be called widow’s payment. Bereavement allowance is a regular payment, paid for 52 weeks from the date of the bereavement, and is based on your late husband or wife’s National Insurance contributions. It used to be called widow’s pension. Widowed parent’s allowance is a regular payment which you may be eligible for if you are a parent whose husband, wife or civil partner has died and you have a dependent child or young person (aged 16 and under 20) for whom you receive child benefit. It used to be called

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 payment from the Government Social Fund, although you might have to repay some or all of it from the estate of the person who died. Who is eligible? It depends on the benefits you’re getting, your relationship with the person who died and any other money, other than your personal savings, that may be available to help with the cost of the funeral. Benefits and tax credits You may be eligible for a funeral payment from the Social Fund if you or your partner are getting any of the following benefits or tax credits: income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, pension credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit (or the council taxpayer where you live gets a second adult rebate because you are on a low income), working tax credit which includes a disability or severe disability element, or child tax credit at a rate higher than the family element. Relationship with the person who has died To be able to get a funeral payment,

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