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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

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