The Funeral Expense Assistance (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024: scrutiny report

Funeral Support Payment is a Social Security Scotland payment that helps pay for funeral costs when the person responsible for organising the funeral lives in Scotland and receives a qualifying low-income benefit. It usually will not cover the full cost of the funeral but it should provide support for some of the costs.

The draft regulations (the Funeral Expense Assistance (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024) make various changes to Funeral Support Payment. Changes affect what support is provided when the deceased person is buried or cremated outwith the area in which they usually resided, what support is provided for funerals held outwith the UK, deductions made to awards, and the introduction of alkaline hydrolysis as a possible form of funeral eligible for an award of FSP.

The draft regulations are largely uncontroversial, and our recommendations relate to supporting guidance, data collection and monitoring, and the inclusion of an explicit statement around the benchmarking of eligible costs for funerals held outside the deceased person’s local authority area of residence.

Burial or cremation outwith the area of residence

Currently, support with burial and cremations costs is capped in line with the cost of a burial or cremation in the local authority area where the deceased person was ordinarily resident.

These regulations will remove the current cap, allowing for reasonable burial or cremation (or, in the future, alkaline hydrolysis) costs to be paid in full, regardless of location within the UK. We welcome this change.

Funerals outwith the UK

Only funerals held in the UK or, in certain circumstances, the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, can currently be eligible for an award of Funeral Support Payment.

These regulations will enable Scottish Ministers to make an award where the deceased person’s funeral is held anywhere outwith the UK if they consider there to be suitable exceptional circumstances, capped at the amount the funeral would have cost had it taken place in the local authority area where the deceased person was ordinarily resident.

In addition, certain eligibility criteria currently relate to the UK’s previous position as a member state of the EU; these regulations will amend these criteria following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

We recommend that the inclusion of an explicit provision around the benchmarking eligible costs for funerals held outside the deceased person’s local authority area of residence be considered, that guidance on what could constitute ‘exceptional circumstances’ be developed, and that data relating to take-up in respect of funerals abroad be collected and monitored.

Deductions

No one can currently be entitled to Funeral Support Payment if the deceased person’s estate is deemed to include “available and sufficient” funds to cover the cost of a funeral, unless the deceased person was under 18. These regulations will remove that stipulation, and instead the maximum possible award in respect of the funeral will be calculated and any available funds in the estate deducted from the actual award.

Currently, where the deceased person had a pre-paid funeral plan, the usual flat-rate element of an award of Funeral Support Payment is reduced. These regulations stipulate that the flat-rate element will only be reduced when the funeral plan or similar has been paid for in full prior to the death of the deceased person. Otherwise, whatever contribution the funeral plan makes towards funeral and travel costs will be deducted from the award.

These regulations also clarity that deductions from an award of Funeral Support Payment reflecting payments due from sources including insurance policies, burial clubs and occupational pension schemes should only be made when the policy etc. is in the name of the deceased person. We welcome these changes.

Alkaline hydrolysis

Alkaline hydrolysis is a new form of funeral which involves a chemical process that breaks down body tissues and bones, leaving a powder. These regulations will allow alkaline hydrolysis to be recognised as a possible form of funeral eligible for support with an award of Funeral Support Payment. We welcome these changes.