Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether a cap is placed on compensation for lost earnings paid as part of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Awards available to applicants under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme), can comprise injury, loss of earnings, special expenses, bereavement, funeral, child and dependency payments.
Where an applicant is eligible for an injury payment under the Scheme, they may also be eligible for a loss of earnings payment, where the applicant has no or very limited capacity for paid work as a direct result of that injury. Loss of earnings payments are calculated at statutory sick pay rate, beginning on the first day of the 29th week in which the applicant satisfies the conditions, and ending on whichever is earliest of the day on which the applicant no longer satisfies the condition, the day on which the applicant will reach state pension age, or where the criminal injury has resulted in a life expectancy below the state pension age, the expected end of the applicant’s life.
The maximum award which may be made under this Scheme, inclusive of any payment in respect of loss of earnings, is £500,000.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to ensure that the Social Fund Funeral Payments meet the costs of cremation.
Answered by Will Quince
The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments scheme, provides a significant contribution towards funeral costs for claimants in receipt of a qualifying benefit. It continues to meet the legislated necessary costs of a cremation, with the amount of the average award increasing year-on-year to meet these costs. It also provides up to £700 towards other costs, such as flowers, coffin and funeral director fees.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pauper funerals were held in England in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and whether local authorities are in all cases able to claim back the costs of those funerals through the Social Fund funeral expenses fund.
Answered by Will Quince
The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments scheme is available to people on qualifying income based benefits. It does not provide funding for local authorities.
My department does not collect data on the number of Local Authority funerals. MHCLG own the policy for Public Health (LA) funerals, but do not collect information on the number of public health funerals held.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has plans to increase awareness among the relatives of deceased people of (a) direct funerals and (b) other funeral options; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
My officials regularly engage with funeral and bereavement stakeholders to help them build awareness of the support available
In August 2018, the GOV.UK website was updated with a step-by-step guide about to do after someone has died, including arranging a funeral and applying for a Funeral Expenses Payments.
DWP is currently updating the leaflet that registrars give to people registering deaths. The revised version will include details of Funeral Expense Payments, and direct people to the GOV.UK step-by-step guide. DWP staff can also provide this information over the phone or in Jobcentres.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long on average it takes to (a) agree and (b) allocate the Social Fund funerals expense payment.
Answered by Will Quince
On average, it takes The Department for Work & Pensions 2-3 weeks to process a Social Fund Funeral Payment from the point of claim, to the decision maker determining whether entitlement exists. In the instances when entitlement exists, it then takes an additional 3-5 working days for the payment to credit to either the Funeral Director’s or claimant’s bank account.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to increase (a) knowledge of, (b) access to and (c) take-up of social fund funeral payments.
Answered by Will Quince
My officials regularly engage with funeral and bereavement stakeholders to help them build awareness of the support available
In August 2018, the GOV.UK website was updated with a step-by-step guide about to do after someone has died, including arranging a funeral and applying for a Funeral Expenses Payments.
DWP is currently updating the leaflet that registrars give to people registering deaths. The revised version will include details of Funeral Expense Payments, and direct people to the GOV.UK step-by-step guide. DWP staff can also provide this information over the phone or in Jobcentres.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2019 to Question 249851, what steps her Department takes to (a) make funerals accessible to everyone and (b) co-ordinate actions between the various bodies listed to ensure they are making funerals accessible to everyone.
Answered by Will Quince
The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments provides a significant contribution towards funeral costs for claimants on qualifying benefits. It continues to meet the necessary costs of a cremation or burial and up to £700 towards other costs. In 2017-18 around 25,500 Funeral Expenses Payment awards were made. This amounted to £37.1 million of support for funeral costs. Interest-free Social Fund Budgeting Loans and Universal Credit Budgeting Advances are now also available to assist with funeral costs.
The Department holds regular discussions with funeral providers and related organisations, including a Ministerial Roundtable on 18th June 2019 to discuss the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments scheme and listen to views for suggested future improvements.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many funeral expenses payment awards were made in 2018-19; and (ii) what the value of those payments was.
Answered by Will Quince
The number and gross expenditure of Funeral Expenses Payment awards, in Great Britain, is reported annually in Appendix 1 of the Social Fund Annual Report:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-fund-annual-report-2017-to-2018
The information requested for 2018/19 will be published in due course, and so cannot be released ahead of publication.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) child, (b) dependency, (c) funeral and (d) bereavement compensation payments were made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The table below shows the number of resolved cases per financial year in which one or more of the following payments were made. There may be overlap in the numbers for each type of payment because some applicants may have received more than one payment.
Financial Year | Child Payment | Dependency Payment | Funeral Expenses | Bereavement Award |
2010/11 | 213 | 34 | 354 | 910 |
2011/12 | 203 | 15 | 335 | 872 |
2012/13 | 203 | 25 | 338 | 873 |
2013/14 | 242 | 49 | 341 | 886 |
2014/15 | 185 | 68 | 307 | 824 |
2015/16 | 151 | 46 | 259 | 651 |
2016/17 | 177 | 9 | 341 | 818 |
2017/18 | 279 | 87 | 454 | 1129 |
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of payments provided by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme were (a) child, (b) dependency, (c) funeral and (d) bereavement compensation payments in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The table below shows the proportion of cases in which a relevant payment was made in each financial year. This is expressed as a percentage of the volume of resolved cases in which an award was made. More than one type of payment may have been made to each eligible applicant.
Financial Year | Bereavement Award | Child Payment | Dependency Payment | Funeral Payment |
2010/11 | 2.8% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 1.1% |
2011/12 | 3.0% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 1.1% |
2012/13 | 4.6% | 1.1% | 0.1% | 1.8% |
2013/14 | 5.7% | 1.5% | 0.3% | 2.2% |
2014/15 | 6.2% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 2.3% |
2015/16 | 4.7% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 1.9% |
2016/17 | 4.9% | 1.1% | 0.1% | 2.0% |
2017/18 | 7.5% | 1.8% | 0.6% | 3.0% |