Funeral Support Payment helps cover costs for bereaved
With the start of this year’s Dying Matters Awareness Week, the Executive Director of a Scottish charity has encouraged people to use the help that’s available for funeral costs.
Dying Matters Awareness Week (5 – 11 May), organised by Hospice UK, aims to break down the stigma and taboos surrounding talking about death and dying.
Social Security Scotland is using the awareness week as an opportunity to encourage people to talk about the difficult topic of how to pay for a friend or relative’s funeral.
Helene Rodger, Executive Director with the Passion4Fusion, a multi-cultural charity, has highlighted how the organisation dealt with her approach for Funeral Support Payment with, “respect and grace,” describing the process as, “easy and smooth.”
People in Scotland who need help paying for a funeral, and who get Universal Credit or other qualifying benefits, can apply for Funeral Support Payment. It can be used towards funeral costs for a baby, including stillborn babies, a child or an adult. The average payment in 2024/25, up to 31 December 2024, was just over £2,100.
Funeral Support Payment can help towards the cost of; burial or cremation, travel, moving the person who died and the relevant documents.
The theme of this year’s Dying Matters campaign is: The Culture of Dying Matters. Different cultures have widely different funeral rites and rituals but the central tenet they share is honoring the person who has died and recognizing their life.
Shirley-Anne Somerville, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, said: “Research carried out for the Marie Curie charity found that people want to commemorate the life which has ended with meaning and dignity. There are strong emotions around funerals and how much they cost.
“Funeral Support Payment supports people in their grief. While it doesn’t usually cover the full cost of a funeral, it does help people respectfully mark the life of their friend or relative without the fear of funeral poverty.”
Helene Rodger, Executive Director with the Passion4Fusion multi-cultural charity said: “I’d never heard about the funeral payment until we lost a community member to cancer who I’d supported through her illness.
“I was asked to step in and claim for the funeral fund. When I called, I expected it would be very intrusive with lots of questions but that was far from the truth.
“The adviser treated my enquiry with so much respect and grace. The process was very easy and smooth and eventually I got the money for the funeral cover. The professionalism and empathy that I was treated with was amazing.”
