Is There Help With Funeral Costs?
Funerals can become expensive quickly, and bereavement is a difficult time to compare prices or challenge costs.
Funerals can become expensive quickly, and bereavement is a difficult time to compare prices or challenge costs.
Before assuming you must personally fund everything, check whether the person had a prepaid funeral plan, insurance, money in their estate or whether government support may be available.
You are allowed to ask what something costs before agreeing to it.
Funeral Expenses Payment in England and Wales
Funeral Expenses Payment can help some people who receive qualifying benefits and are responsible for arranging a funeral.
Current qualifying benefits include Universal Credit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, with other qualifying circumstances set out in the rules.
Eligibility also depends on your relationship to the person who died and other family circumstances.
What can the payment cover?
GOV.UK says it can contribute towards specified costs including burial or cremation fees, certain travel, moving the body over 50 miles within the UK and documents such as death certificates.
It can also provide up to £1,000 towards other funeral expenses such as the coffin, flowers or funeral-director fees.
It will not usually cover the full cost of the funeral.
When do I have to claim?
Current GOV.UK guidance says you must apply within 6 months of the funeral.
You can apply before the funeral if you have an invoice or signed funeral-director contract rather than only an estimate.
If you have applied for a qualifying benefit and are waiting for a decision, you may still be able to make the Funeral Expenses Payment claim.
What if the deceased left money?
The existence of an estate does not necessarily prevent an application.
However, GOV.UK explains that Funeral Expenses Payment can be recovered from money available from the deceased’s estate under the scheme rules.
Other money available for funeral costs, such as insurance, can also affect the amount paid.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have different arrangements
In Scotland, Funeral Support Payment has replaced Funeral Expenses Payment.
Northern Ireland has its own Funeral Expenses Payment process.
Check the official service for the nation where you live rather than assuming the England and Wales procedure applies throughout the UK.
Other sources of help
The person may have had a prepaid funeral plan, life-insurance policy, occupational benefit or money in their bank account or estate.
GOV.UK also identifies the Children’s Funeral Fund for England, which can help with some costs for the funeral of a child under 18 or a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy.
Ask the funeral director to explain which charges are essential and which are optional.
Funeral directors must publish standard prices
GOV.UK confirms that funeral directors are legally required to publish a price list for a standard set of products and services.
That gives families a basis for comparing core costs.
A meaningful funeral does not have to be the most expensive funeral available.
If money is making grief harder
Financial pressure can become tangled with guilt: “I should give them the best”, “people will judge us” or “I cannot say no to this”.
Try to separate love for the person from the amount spent on the funeral.
If the cost is becoming unmanageable, ask about government support, estate funds, simpler options and free money or debt guidance before using unaffordable credit.
Last reviewed
6 September 2026
Important informationThis guide provides general information and is not intended to provide legal, financial or other professional advice. Rules can differ across the UK and individual estates can be complex. Check current official guidance and consider advice from an appropriately qualified professional before making important decisions about an estate, inheritance, property, debts or funeral costs.