Public Health Funerals

We have a duty to arrange the funeral of anyone who dies in the Borough where there are no relatives or agency willing, or able to make these arrangements.

As well as the information below, please also see more detailed information and advice on our Public Health Funerals - Answers to your questions page.

Getting help to pay for a funeral

If you are unable to pay for a funeral, you may be eligible for financial assistance towards the costs:-

Funeral Expenses Payments (FEP)

FEP helps people on qualifying benefits with the costs of arranging a funeral. It can be used to cover costs, including the purchase of a grave; necessary burial or cremation fees; and travel costs for the applicant to arrange and attend the funeral. It can also cover other funeral costs, such as the coffin or flowers up to a maximum of £1,000. Full details on eligibility and how to access FEP can be found on GOV.UK.

Support for child funeral costs (Children’s Funeral Fund for England)

The Children’s Funeral Fund for England can help to pay for some of the costs of a funeral for a child under 18 or a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy. It is not means-tested - what you earn or how much you have in savings will not affect what you get. The burial or cremation must take place in England. More information on support for child funeral costs can be found on GOV.UK.

Bereavement Support Payment (BSP)

You may be able to get BSP if your husband, wife or civil partner died in the last 21 months. You must claim within 3 months of your partner’s death to get the full amount. You can claim up to 21 months after their death but you’ll get fewer monthly payments. More information on the Bereavement Support Payment can be found on GOV.UK.

Charitable organisations

Some charitable organisations can help with funeral costs, you should contact them directly.

Please note: If arrangements have already been made; such as instructions to a funeral director, we will not be responsible for any costs incurred, nor can we part fund a funeral.

Burial or cremation

Where known, we will respect the wishes of the deceased to be buried or to be cremated. Such wishes are often written into the will, it is important that any will is easy to find, we recommend all wills are registered with the National Will Register. Any costs associated with specific instructions must be met either through the deceased’s estate or by family members or friends. In the case of a cremation, if a family member wishes to retain the remains, they must be collected from the crematorium.

Reclaiming costs

We will recover the cost of the funeral, together with administration costs, from the estate. If necessary, we can sell any belongings of the deceased to offset these costs.

If, after we have deducted the cost of the funeral and our associated cost, the remaining estate is over £500 and there is no evidence of a valid will, and there is no known next of kin; we will refer the estate to the Treasury Solicitor in accordance with guidelines for referring ‘Bona Vacantia’ estates. We check for proof of a will by contacting the National Will Register and/or a search of the deceased’s property.  It is at this point that we will make the information public.

Freedom of Information Requests

We receive many requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) regarding public health funerals and Bona Vacantia cases. To ensure we promptly deal with all such requests, general details of all public health funerals arranged by us since 1 January 2012 are provided in our Register of Public Health Funerals. As such, our response to FOI requests for such information is to direct requesters to this register.

Requests for additional information

We are adopting a similar position to the Government’s Bona Vacantia Division, by not providing additional information for Bona Vacantia estates. This is due to concerns of potential criminal activity resulting from disclosures of assets, before the Treasury Solicitor has undertaken their own enquires. Furthermore, releasing information about ‘last known addresses’ into the public domain poses a security risk, as such properties are likely to be unoccupied and still contain the possessions of the deceased. We therefore will apply the exemption under Section 31(1)(a) of FOIA (prevention and detection of crime) to withhold disclosing such information. This exemption permits us to withhold information, if such disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime. In consideration of these issues, we believe that there is no-overriding public interest in releasing this information.

Requests for Value of Estates

We will withhold releasing information regarding the value of estates, applying Section 31(1)(a) of FOIA. We believe that releasing information of the value of estates would likely enable the commission of fraud or other criminal activity.

Public Interest Test

In applying the above exemption, we have considered the public interest test. This involves us taking into account, the public interest in disclosing and withholding information. There is a compelling public interest in ensuring that the Government’s Division’s activities are conducted in a transparent and honest way. However, disclosure of exempt information could facilitate the commission of fraud, potentially resulting in a loss to the public purse, and there is a strong public interest in protecting it. We therefore, believe in these circumstances, that the public interest in maintaining the exemption under Section 31(1)(a) of FOIA outweighs the public interest in disclosing such information.