Burial, cremation and hydrolysis costs

When someone dies, you'll have to pay burial, cremation or hydrolysis costs as part of their funeral.

You can apply to Social Security Scotland for Funeral Support Payment to help with burial, cremation or hydrolysis costs.

Help towards burial and cremation costs in Scottish council areas

The tables show how much help Social Security Scotland can give you in different Scottish council areas for a:

burial and plot
burial only
cremation

This help is for adults aged 18 or over. In Scotland, it usually does not cost anything to bury or cremate a stillborn baby, a baby, child or young person.

Find out how much help you can get for funerals held:

Local council help towards burial and cremation costs
Local council	Burial and plot	Burial only	Cremation
Aberdeen City	£2336	£1063	£871
Aberdeenshire	£2966	£1383	£890
Angus	£1543.90	£937.05	£1450
Argyll and Bute	£2635	£1210	£1096
Clackmannanshire	£2230	£1097.30	£1,311.90
Dumfries and Galloway	£1463.55	£975.70	£1049
Dundee City	£1715.25	£794	£1325
East Ayrshire	£2174	£1026	£1375
East Dunbartonshire	£2529	£1142	£1095
East Lothian	£2270	£1100	£947
East Renfrewshire	£2924	£1381	£1150
Edinburgh City	£3127	£1457	£947
Falkirk	£2805.90	£1322.50	£1311.90
Fife	£1925	£922	£1018
Glasgow City	£2744	£1171	£953
Highland	£1719	£1041	£1041
Inverclyde	£2639.75	£1270.70	£992.70
Midlothian	£2523	£1203	£947
Moray	£3094	£1643	£1300
North Ayrshire	£2023	£979	£1375
North Lanarkshire	£2479.52	£1225.98	£1295
Orkney Islands	£1953	£853	£1209
Perth and Kinross	£2222	£1132	£1018
Renfrewshire	£2214	£1056.95	£1029
Scottish Borders	£2829	£1147	£1125
Shetland Islands	£1695	£817	£992.70
South Ayrshire	£2270	£1135	£1134
South Lanarkshire	£2727.09	£1150.64	£973.61
Stirling	£2617	£1478	£1295
West Dunbartonshire	£2525	£1096	£1043
Western Isles	£1312.50	£735	£1041
West Lothian	£2351.38	£1148.31	£1295

Costs for someone who lived in England, Wales or Northern Ireland

You can get help if you live in Scotland and need to pay the burial, cremation or hydrolysis costs for someone who lived in:

England
Wales
Northern Ireland

You can apply to Social Security Scotland for help.

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Information

Help towards burial and cremation costs in Scottish council areas

Find out how much help you can get for funerals held:

On or after 1 April 2026

Costs for someone who lived in England, Wales or Northern Ireland