Funeral Payments


These payments help meet the cost of the funeral of a close friend or relative such as your partner or child. To qualify, you must be responsible for organising the funeral and you (or your partner) must be receiving one or more of the following: Income Support or Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit, Working Tax Credit with a disability element, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. 


In addition, you must be:


• the partner of the deceased when they died;


• a close relative or close friend of the deceased; 


• the parent of a baby stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy; or


• the parent of the deceased child, if they were under 16 (or under 20 and not in full-time education).


If the parent is “absent”, you must be responsible for the child and the absent parent must get a qualifying benefit.


The payment is to cover essential expenses for a funeral within the UK plus up to £700 for other funeral expenses. 


Payments to you from insurance policies, charities or relatives will be taken into account, and you may have to pay some or all of the money back from the deceased person’s estate. If there is a close relative of the deceased who is not getting one of the qualifying benefits you may not be able to claim Funeral Payment.


You must claim within three months of the funeral on form SF200, available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funeral-payment-claim-form, or from the Bereavement Service on 0345 606 0265.