If the person who died was 18 or over
Funeral Support Payment will not usually cover the full cost of a funeral. The average total payment is £1,800, but the amount you get will depend on a number of factors.
It can help pay towards:
- burial or cremation costs
- funeral costs
- your travel costs
- transport costs to move the person who died
- document costs
- medical costs
Costs you'll be able to get help with
Burial or cremation cost
The payment will usually cover the cost of burial or cremation in the local area where the person who died lived. If this cost is paid for by a funeral plan, you will not get this payment.
Social Security Scotland can only work out exactly how much you'll get when they know where the person lived. This is because different locations have different burial and cremation costs.
Funeral costs
You can get a payment of £1,257.75 to put towards any other funeral costs you need to pay for, such as the funeral service or funeral car.
If the person who died had a funeral plan, the amount you'll get for funeral costs will be reduced to £153.50. This is because their funeral plan should help pay for the funeral costs.
Your travel costs
You can get help towards travel costs for one return journey to either the:
- place where you're arranging the funeral
- funeral location
This includes travel by bus, train and car. You can sometimes get help towards travel by taxi, boat and plane. It does not include travel in a funeral car.
Other costs you might be able to get help with
Transport costs to move the person who died
If you need to move the person who died more than 49.7 miles, you can get help towards the cost of this.
You'll have to pay for the first 49.7 miles of any journey. Social Security Scotland can only help pay for the travel over 49.7 miles, as long as the travel is within the UK. Make sure the funeral director puts the full travel distance onto your bill. This includes the distance of any return journeys.
Social Security Scotland can work out how much money you'll get to help towards transport costs to move the person who died. They'll do this by speaking to your funeral director, if you have one, or using your final funeral bill.
Document costs
Social Security Scotland can pay towards the cost of:
- death certificates to release money belonging to the person who died so that it can be used towards the cost of the funeral
- medical certificates needed to bury or cremate someone. For example, a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death
Medical costs
You can get help with the cost of certain medical procedures needed before the funeral can go ahead. For example, if a pacemaker needs to be removed before the person who died can be cremated.
What affects how much you can get
The amount you get paid will depend on how much money left by the person who died is available and accessible.
Your payment will be less if the person who died left any money which could cover some, or all, of the funeral expenses.
This includes:
- funds belonging to the person who died
- insurance policies
- funeral plans
- lump-sum payments from pensions or burial clubs
Recovering payments
Funeral Support Payment is treated as a funeral expense. This means we can take back any money we paid you from the estate of the person who died before inheritance is paid. A person's estate (sometimes known as assets) includes things like:
- money
- savings
- property
This is because any money from the person's estate is used to pay funeral expenses and debts.
We'll only take back Funeral Support Payment if money becomes available from the estate of the person who died. We'll recover this money from the estate directly. We will not ask you to pay it back.
Examples of how much you could get
Example A
The person who died was over 18 and lived in the Glasgow City Council area. They had £250 in personal savings, but no funeral plan or insurance.
The person who's responsible for the funeral lives in Aberdeenshire and needed to travel from Aberdeenshire to Glasgow for the funeral. They would be able to get a total payment of £1,923.10
| Payment | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cremation costs This is the fee charged by the local council for cremation in Glasgow City. |
£832 |
| Funeral costs This is a fixed amount of £1,257.75 as the person who died did not have a funeral plan or funeral insurance. |
£1,257.75 |
| Travel costs The person responsible for the funeral lived in Aberdeenshire and needed to travel from Aberdeenshire to Glasgow for the funeral. |
£58 |
| Transport costs There were no costs to move the person who died over 49.7 miles to the funeral location. |
£0 |
| Document costs The person responsible for the funeral did not need to pay for any documents like a copy of the death certificate. |
£0 |
| Other costs This is the amount paid for removing a pacemaker. |
£25.35 |
| Deductions The person who died had £250 in private bank accounts, which is accessible to you. |
-£250 |
| Total | £1,923.10 |
Example B
The person who died was over 18 and lived and died in Falkirk. They did not have any savings but did have a funeral plan. The funeral plan didn't include the cost of the burial. The person who's responsible for the funeral would be able to get a total payment of £1,897.50.
| Payment | Amount |
|---|---|
| Burial costs This is the fee charged by the local council for burial in Falkirk. |
£1,744 |
| Funeral costs This is a fixed amount of £153.50 as the person who died had a funeral plan. |
£153.50 |
| Travel costs The person responsible for the funeral did not have any travel costs to plan or attend the funeral. |
£0 |
| Transport costs There were no costs to move the person who died over 49.7 miles to the funeral location. |
£0 |
| Document costs The person responsible for the funeral did not need to pay for any documents like a copy of the death certificate. |
£0 |
| Other costs There were no costs for any medical procedures. |
£0 |
| Deductions No money would be deducted as the person who died did not have any immediately accessible money to help pay for the funeral. |
-£0 |
| Total | £1,897.50 |
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