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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

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

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

443702

registered interest
date	11/01/2016
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, whether he has any plans to change the social fund funeral payment in the next 12 months.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	21875
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2016 answer text <p>The Government continually looks to improve its service. For example, in 2015 informal discussions have already taken place with stakeholders, including the National Association of Funeral Directors, representatives from life assurance companies, academics and advice services on possible improvements. These discussions carry on and there is a current focus on how to improve information on eligibility.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/01/2016 15:27:20 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell