Funeral financial support
The following information provides options for financial support for individuals and families arranging a funeral.
Funeral Payment
If you're on a low income and need help to pay for a funeral you're arranging, you may be able to get a Funeral Payment from the Social Fund. For more information on the fund visit GOV.UK - Funeral Payments.
Funeral Benefit
Funeral Benefit offers support to individuals and families whose incomes are slightly higher than the qualifying income for Funeral Support from the Government's Social Fund, but still require financial assistance.
In these circumstances, our Funeral Benefit Policy may offer financial support towards our charges for burial or cremation. However, this does not provide any financial support to the charges incurred by the Funeral Director.
Who is eligible?
Eligibility will be based on meeting all of the following criteria:
- The deceased must have been a resident of Preston (within the boundary of the City Council) for at least a year immediately preceding death.
- The applicant must ordinarily be an immediate relative of the deceased*
- The applicant has applied and been refused Funeral Payment from the UK Government's Social Fund.
- The applicant has applied and been refused a loan to pay for the funeral from Lancashire Community Finance on the grounds that they could not afford to make the repayments.
- There is insufficient value within the deceased's estate to pay for the funeral.
- The applicant has insufficient savings and no other reasonable means of paying for all the funeral costs.
*An immediate relative means the permanent partner, parents, children or other dependent relative of the deceased. The eligibility criteria may be extended to include others with responsibility for arranging the funeral where there is, for example, no immediate relative.
What support are you entitled to?
Support will consist of either a standard burial in a public or private grave at no charge, or a standard cremation at no charge.
What is not included?
Support will not include, for example, any additional charges for non standard burial or cremation including:
- any premium for non standard times of burial or cremation
- charges for the purchase of an exclusive right of burial in a private grave
- the burial of cremated remains; the purchase of any memorialisation
- charges for the erection of any memorialisation
How to apply
You can apply for Funeral benefit through our online form or by post:
Or
Complete the funeral benefit application form from the downloads section
What to include
- A copy of the Social Fund refusal letter
- A copy of the Lancashire Community Finance refusal letter (detailing the reason for refusal)
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