Help with Funeral Costs

By theorkneynews on January 19, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

Anyone who has had to arrange a funeral knows how expensive these can get. It can include :

funeral director fees
things the funeral director pays for on your behalf, like crematorium or cemetery fees, or a newspaper announcement about the death
local council burial or cremation fees

It can all get out of hand especially when you are working through your bereavement with the average cost of a funeral coming in at over £4,000.

In Scotland people can get some help towards costs. For those who are eligible Funeral Expenses Payment will help you with:

burial fees for a particular plot
cremation fees, including the cost of the doctor’s certificate
travel to arrange or go to the funeral
the cost of moving the body within the UK, if it’s being moved more than 50 miles
death certificates or other documents

Although it will not cover all the costs you may also be able to claim for £700 for things like director’s fees, flowers or the coffin.

The average DWP funeral payment is £1,372.

Other Bereavement Benefits are available if you do not qualify for Funeral Expenses Payment

‘Funeral Payments’ was one of the powers newly devolved to Scotland. As a result of this the Scottish Government is replacing the current funeral payments system with Funeral Expense Assistance (FEA) which will be ready by the summer.

The new payment system by Social Security Scotland will increase those eligible to apply by 40%.