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1005853

	registered interest
	date	12/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's policy is on supporting benefit claimants who must pay for the funeral of a family member; and if her Department will introduce an allowance for benefit claimants who must pay for the funeral of a family member to ensure that their benefit claims are not adversely affected.
	tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
	tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
	uin	190493
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2018 answer text <p>The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment scheme makes a contribution towards the cost of a funeral for people in receipt of certain income related benefits and tax credits. To qualify, the applicant must be accepted as responsible for arranging the funeral, they (or their partner) must receive one of the qualifying benefits and they must be the partner or a close relative or close friend of the deceased.</p><p> </p><p>The amount payable depends on whether there is any other money available, for example from the deceased’s estate. As the Payment is linked to the deceased’s assets, it does not adversely affect the applicant’s savings.</p><p> </p><p>The scheme offers support by meeting the ‘necessary costs’ of a cremation or burial, including acquiring a burial plot. An allowance of up to £700 is also available to meet other funeral costs such as a coffin, religious venue and funeral director fees.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 15/11/2018 09:55:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

448759

	registered interest
	date	28/01/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for Social Fund funerals were made in each year between 2010 and 2015; how many such applications were refused; and what the (a) budget and (b) lowest payment made was.
	tabling member constituency	South Shields
	tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
	uin	24696
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2016 answer text <p>Table 1 shows the number of applications for Funeral Expenses Payments which were made and the number refused in the financial years 2010/11 to 2014/15.</p><p><strong>Table 1</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Applications (000)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Initial Refusals (000)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2010/11</strong></p></td><td><p>69</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2011/12</strong></p></td><td><p>69</p></td><td><p>36</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p>66</p></td><td><p>34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p>59</p></td><td><p>27</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p>51</p></td><td><p>24</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Data sourced from the DWP policy, Budget and Management Information System and is published in the Annual Report by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the Social Fund for the relevant year.</p><p>The budget for the Social Fund, Funeral Expenses Payment (FEP) expenditure is demand-led. Legislation prescribes that payments are made to all eligible applicants. That is people responsible for arranging a funeral who meet the rules on relationships with the deceased and receive a qualifying benefit. Provision for FEPs is made by central Government through the supply estimate process, but these figures are not translated into an operational budget and do not impact eligibility or award amounts.</p><p>In a minority of cases funeral expense payments are subsequently recovered from the deceased’s estate and in these cases the net amount can be very small. Given the small numbers involved it is not appropriate to release figures as there is a risk of identifying individuals.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 05/02/2016 11:41:04 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

511483

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is tacking to tackle funeral poverty in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Pontypridd
	tabling member printed	Owen Smith
	uin	33700
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2016 answer text <p>This department supports people with help on funeral expenses through the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments scheme, which provides help towards the cost of a simple funeral for people claiming eligible benefits.</p><p>We are considering the recent Work and Pensions Select Committee report on support for the bereaved and will respond in due course.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/04/2016 16:23:32 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4042 label Biography information for Owen Smith

514830

	registered interest
	date	21/04/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has considered measures to expedite the current five to six week processing time for applications to the Department for Work and Pensions Funeral Fund; and what the target processing time is for applications to that Fund.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	35018
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2016 answer text <p>If all the necessary information is received with the Funeral Expenses Payments claim form the application is processed straight away. The department is committed to ensuring that communications on eligibility for Funeral Payments are improved. This will in turn help claims to be processed and decisions to be made more quickly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>For 2016/17 DWP aims to clear Funeral Expenses Payments claims within 15 working days. In 2014/15 of the 51,000 applications, over 55% were cleared within target; and over 69% cleared within 21 working days.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 26/04/2016 14:44:39 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

515471

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33700, what steps his Department is taking to monitor levels of funeral poverty.
	tabling member constituency	Pontypridd
	tabling member printed	Owen Smith
	uin	35294
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/05/2016 answer text <p>The Government recognises that some families on low incomes can struggle to meet the costs of a funeral, this is why the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments covers specified necessary costs and provides a significant contribution of up to £700 towards the fee levied by funeral directors for all other funeral expenses.</p><p>My Department continues to look at the effectiveness of the scheme so that it provides effective support and will keep on monitoring its effectiveness and liaising with stakeholders and interested groups so that it maintains its aim of providing a contribution towards the cost of a funeral.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/05/2016 16:34:28 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4042 label Biography information for Owen Smith

516893

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35018, how many funeral expense payments were processed by his Department in 2015-16; and what proportion of such applications were processed within (a) 15, (b) 20 and (c) 25 working days.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	36155
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2016 answer text <p>For 2015/16 the Department processed 45,467 applications for Funeral Expense Payments with 69.7% cleared within 15 working days and 83.4% cleared within 20 working days. We are unable to provide data on how many applications were processed within 25 working days as the Management Information system that the Department uses for Funeral Expenses does not provide this level of detail.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong></p><p> </p><p>Number processed - Department for Work and Pensions – Management Information System Program (MISP) - Management Information Portal</p><p> </p><p>% processed - Department for Work and Pensions – Office Print Report Tool (OPRT) - Management Information Statistics</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 05/05/2016 12:45:27 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

937548

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the interest rate charge is for funeral expenses payments.
	tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
	tabling member printed	Justin Madders
	uin	162086
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2018 answer text <p>We make low-cost funeral expense payments to people who receive (or whose partners receive) a qualifying benefit or Tax Credit. These are recoverable from the estate of the deceased and where there aren’t enough assets available in the estate it is written off.</p><p> </p><p>DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts 2017-2018 contains information on losses associated with the social fund at page 159, which can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721224/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-2018.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721224/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-2018.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>There were 663k (gross) of Funeral Expense Payments outstanding as at 31 March 2018.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions has the discretion to apply interest at 1.5% above the Bank of England Base Rate when recovering an outstanding Funeral Payment from an estate.</p><p> </p><p>Interest would be charged on any balance outstanding at the end of each calendar year.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 162087 question first answered 17/07/2018 16:45:38 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders

937549

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the amount of money owed to the public purse from funeral expenses payments.
	tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
	tabling member printed	Justin Madders
	uin	162087
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2018 answer text <p>We make low-cost funeral expense payments to people who receive (or whose partners receive) a qualifying benefit or Tax Credit. These are recoverable from the estate of the deceased and where there aren’t enough assets available in the estate it is written off.</p><p> </p><p>DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts 2017-2018 contains information on losses associated with the social fund at page 159, which can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721224/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-2018.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721224/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-2018.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>There were 663k (gross) of Funeral Expense Payments outstanding as at 31 March 2018.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions has the discretion to apply interest at 1.5% above the Bank of England Base Rate when recovering an outstanding Funeral Payment from an estate.</p><p> </p><p>Interest would be charged on any balance outstanding at the end of each calendar year.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 162086 question first answered 17/07/2018 16:45:38 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders

937886

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average Funeral Expenses Payment was in each year since 2003.
	tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
	tabling member printed	Toby Perkins
	uin	162526
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions does not produce estimates for the average cost of a funeral.</p><p> </p><p>The average Funeral Expenses Payment (FEP) made in each year is published in the Social Fund Annual Report. Table 1 below provides the average FEP made in each year since 2003/04. Figures are rounded to the nearest £1.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Average FEP award, 2003/04 – 2017/18</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Average FEP award</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2003/04</p></td><td><p>£1,019</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2004/05</p></td><td><p>£1,051</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2005/06</p></td><td><p>£1,081</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2006/07</p></td><td><p>£1,117</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007/08</p></td><td><p>£1,162</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008/09</p></td><td><p>£1,194</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009/10</p></td><td><p>£1,208</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>£1,217</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>£1,241</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>£1,225</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>£1,347</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>£1,375</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>£1,410</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>£1,427</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>£1,461</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Source: Social Fund Annual Reports 2003/04 – 2016/17, Social Fund Policy Budget and Management Information System</p><p> </p><p>Notes</p><p> </p><ol><li>The figure for 2017/18 is drawn from the Social Fund Policy Budget and Management Information System as the Social Fund Annual Report 2017/18 is not yet published.</li><li>The average award is the average payment net of returned payments (including appeals). This is calculated by taking the total value of payments in a given year (net of returned payments) and dividing by the total number of payments in a given year, as recorded in the Policy, Budget and Management Information System.</li><li>These averages include awards made after review, reconsideration or appeal following an initial refusal.</li></ol> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 162525 question first answered 18/07/2018 12:32:53 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

938459

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Funeral Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to review the adequacy of the element of the Funeral Expenses Payment that is used to pay funeral directors, coffins and flowers to cover those costs.
	tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
	tabling member printed	Toby Perkins
	uin	163065
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/07/2018 answer text <p>The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments provides a significant contribution towards funeral costs, covering burials, cremations and £700 towards coffins, flowers and other costs. It continues to meet the necessary costs of a cremation or burial for claimants on certain income based benefits or tax credits. Average payments have increased year-on-year to meet these necessary costs, by some 28% over the past ten years.</p><p> </p><p>We have also made interest-free Social Fund Budgeting Loans available for funeral costs in addition to Funeral Expenses Payments. Whilst we are keeping the level of funeral expenses payments under review, we do need to ensure that we have a system that is both fair for taxpayers, while assisting the most vulnerable with funeral expenses.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/07/2018 14:44:52 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins