Funeral Expenses Payment - Can I get a Funeral Expenses Payment?

You qualify for a Funeral Expenses Payment if you, or your partner, are getting one of the following benefits:

• Universal Credit
• Income Support
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Pension Credit (guarantee or savings credit)
• Housing Benefit  
• Working Tax Credit (disability or severe disability element)
• Child Tax Credit 

You may also qualify if you are entitled to a Support for Mortgage Interest loan.

If your partner has died and you did not qualify for the any of the benefits listed above while they were alive, you may be eligible for some of them now. You should use the Turn2us Benefits Calculator to check if you are entitled to any of these benefits. If you are entitled, you should claim it straight away. You do not have to wait for a decision on the claim before you claim a Funeral Expenses Payment. 

You will not be granted a Funeral Expenses Payment just because you are paying for a funeral. The benefits office has to agree that it is reasonable for you to be responsible for paying for the funeral and that there is no one else who should be paying for it.

Responsibility for funeral expenses 

If you are claiming for the funeral of your child or partner, you can be paid a Funeral Expenses Payment as long as you meet the other qualifying conditions. This applies to lesbian, gay and heterosexual partners. It also applies whether you were married, in a civil partnership or just living together.

If you are a close relative, family member or a friend of the person who has died, you may be able to get a Funeral Expenses Payment. However, this will depend on whether there is someone closer or equally close to the person who has died who is not getting benefits. In this situation, the benefits office will consider how well you knew the person who has died and whether it is reasonable for you to accept responsibility for the funeral expenses.

Funeral location

The funeral usually has to take place in the UK to qualify for a Funeral Expenses Payment but some may be covered if they take place in a European Economic Area EEA country.

If the person who has died lived in Northern Ireland, you may also be able to claim a Funeral Expenses Payment for a funeral in the Republic of Ireland.

You should seek advice if the funeral is not in the UK; you can use our Find an Adviser tool or call the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Bereavement Service (England, Wales and Scotland) or Northern Ireland Bereavement Service.