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PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Funeral Payments (10 July 2018)

Question Asked

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average Funeral Expenses Payment was in each year since 2003.

Asked by:
Mr Toby Perkins (Labour)

Answer

The Department for Work and Pensions does not produce estimates for the average cost of a funeral.

The average Funeral Expenses Payment (FEP) made in each year is published in the Social Fund Annual Report. Table 1 below provides the average FEP made in each year since 2003/04. Figures are rounded to the nearest £1.

Table 1: Average FEP award, 2003/04 – 2017/18

Year

Average FEP award

2003/04

£1,019

2004/05

£1,051

2005/06

£1,081

2006/07

£1,117

2007/08

£1,162

2008/09

£1,194

2009/10

£1,208

2010/11

£1,217

2011/12

£1,241

2012/13

£1,225

2013/14

£1,347

2014/15

£1,375

2015/16

£1,410

2016/17

£1,427

2017/18

£1,461

Source: Social Fund Annual Reports 2003/04 – 2016/17, Social Fund Policy Budget and Management Information System

Notes

  1. The figure for 2017/18 is drawn from the Social Fund Policy Budget and Management Information System as the Social Fund Annual Report 2017/18 is not yet published.
  2. The average award is the average payment net of returned payments (including appeals). This is calculated by taking the total value of payments in a given year (net of returned payments) and dividing by the total number of payments in a given year, as recorded in the Policy, Budget and Management Information System.
  3. These averages include awards made after review, reconsideration or appeal following an initial refusal.

Answered by:
Justin Tomlinson (Conservative)
18 July 2018

Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.