Department for Communities: Reforms of the Social Fund s Funeral Expenses Payments scheme

Transcription

1 Department for Communities: Reforms of the Social Fund s Funeral Expenses Payments scheme About Law Centre (NI) and introduction 1. The Law Centre (LCNI) works to promote social justice and provides specialist legal services to advice organisations and disadvantaged individuals through our two regional offices in Northern Ireland. It provides advice, casework, training, information and policy services in employment, health & social care and social security law and facilitates regular Social Security Practitioner Forums and a Welfare Reform Group for our members. LCNI works with Advice NI and CAB to deliver the Welfare Reform Support Project and is a member of the Department for Communities Operational Forum and Disability Consultative Forum. 2. LCNI welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation. This submission addresses first the scope of the consultation and identifies a number of specific issues before responding to the consultation questions in turn. Initial comments 3. Whilst all of the proposals set out in this consultation are generally welcomed, the scope is nevertheless disappointingly narrow. LCNI considers that the Department has a missed an opportunity to consider some much needed reform. The consultation focusses on a number of discrete issues related to the Social Fund Funeral Payment; it does not address many of the wider issues affecting bereaved persons. For example, a key issue is rising cost: over the last decade, the cost of a funeral has increased nationally by 90%, which can leave some bereaved family members experiencing financial hardship and debt. 1 While the cost of a funeral has risen exponentially, the Funeral Payment has been capped at 700 for the last 13 years. This has led the present situation whereby the Funeral Payment does not cover the cost of a basic funeral. a) Westminster debate 4. Locally, Citizens Advice has highlighted the inadequacy of the Funeral Payment, which leaves bereaved families facing a significant shortfall of thousands of 1 Sun life, Cost of Dying Report (2015) 1

2 pounds. 2 These concerns were echoed in a Westminster debate called by Mr Gavin Robinson MP in September The problem can be summed up as curtly as this. SunLife s cost of dying survey puts the average cost of a funeral at 3,700. The average payment for the preceding year from the social fund was 1,347. That is a shortfall of 62%. We know that eligibility for the payment is confined to those in receipt of income support, housing benefit, tax credit, universal credit, pension credit, jobseeker s allowance or employment and support allowance. We therefore recognise as a society that any recipient of this payment is already in need of Government support to make ends meet. Starkly, we are forcing individuals for whom every penny counts to accept a financial burden of 2,300. In the debate, Mr Robinson highlighted many of the practical issues associated with bereavement. He also identified that the fact that Northern Ireland funerals take place relatively quickly can create particular difficulties as it does not allow people in this jurisdiction to follow the ideal DWP procedure. 5. MPs from across political parties including SNP, SDLP, Labour and Independent agreed that the government needs to take a more robust approach to regulation of the cost of funerals. Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck expressed disappointment that the government had made little progress since she introduced the Funeral Services Bill in 2014, which called for an overarching review of funeral affordability. b) Work & Pensions Committee study 6. In the absence of government activity on this issue, the Work & Pensions Committee undertook a comprehensive study of Bereavement Benefits and the Social Fund Funeral Payments. The Committee issued its report in March Its recommendations, which Law Centre (NI) supports in full, calls on the Government/DWP to: 4 a) Negotiate a reasonable cost of a simple funeral and that the Funeral Expenses Regulations are amended to set out the essential items for a 2 Citizens Advice Briefing Note Funeral Costs 3 HoC 14 September 2016 Vol Work and Pensions Committee, Support for the bereaved Ninth Report of Session (31 March 2016) HC 551 2

3 simple funeral. Also to discuss the tackle the systemic causes of funeral inflation. b) Introduce an eligibility checker for SFFPs that would quickly inform claimants whether they are eligible and how much. c) Seek to raise awareness through leaflets about SFFPs d) Tackle the systemic causes of funeral inflation by conducting a cross- Departmental review of burials, cremations and funerals. e) Extend the Bereavement Support Payment to cohabitees with dependent children and extend the payment period to 18 months through a reduction in the lump-sum payment. f) Remove Widowed Parent s Allowance from the list of benefits treated as income other than earnings for the purposes of Universal Credit. 7. The Government rejected a number of the Committee s recommendations but it did agree/commit to the following: a) To work with stakeholders to consider what would constitute a standard funeral package and reasonable costs; b) To investigate solutions to better address the underlying problem of people not understanding their eligibility for Social Fund Funeral Expenses; c) To carry out direct user research with beavered people with the view to improve how Government engages with the bereaved to ensure that information is in the right place and form. d) To amend the duration of the Bereavement Support Payment so it does not cease on the anniversary of the death e) To ensure that recipients of Widowed Parent s Allowance are given transitional protection. 8. LCNI recommends that as a minimum action the Department for Communities embarks upon the same work programme as DWP to ensure that bereaved persons living in Northern Ireland are not omitted from any developments stemming from the Committee s report. c) Supreme Court ruling on cohabitees 9. We note that the Government wholly rejected the Committee s recommendation of extending the Bereavement Support Payment to cohabitees, however, we wish to highlight the decision of the Supreme Court which requires the Northern Ireland Executive to treat cohabiting couples in the same manner as married 3

4 couples for purposes of occupational pensions. LCNI asks the Department for Communities to clarify how its approach to Funeral Payments is consistent with this ruling? 5 d) Migrants subject to No Recourse to Public Funds 10. LCNI wishes to inform the Department to the difficulties that can arise following the death of a migrant who is subject to the No Recourse to Public Funds rule. LCNI is aware of a small number of cases involving asylum seekers, victims of trafficking and foreign national prisoners. 11. In such situations, it is unlikely that a family member is eligible for a Social Fund Funeral Payment due to the ordinarily residence requirement. A Public Health Funeral might be available, however, this service may not be acceptable to all persons (For example it is our understanding that, in Belfast, a cremation service only is available). In such situations, it often falls to the voluntary and community sector and/or religious bodies to make the necessary arrangements and to fundraise to cover the costs. These situations are difficult for all involved and can become complicated when repatriation is requested and/or when next-of-kin require immigration status/visas in order to accompany the body out of the UK or to enter the UK to attend the funeral. There is no departmental guidance or agreed pathways/processes, which makes each case particularly stressful and resource intensive. 12. We would invite the Department to consider extending an invitation to relevant stakeholders for discussion. Invitees would include for example: Executive Office, NI Strategic Migration Partnership including local councils, Health & Social Care Trusts, Environmental Health Service, key voluntary and community sector organisations, etc and the purpose of the meeting would be identify the issues and to consider the benefits of identifying a lead contact in such cases and of developing a pathway/process Question 1 Do you agree recipients of funeral payments should be allowed to receive additional contributions towards the cost of a funeral from charities, friends and relatives without these contributions being deducted from the value of the funeral payment awarded? 5 [2017] UKSC 8 4

5 13. We agree with this proposal. We think it is right to allow recipients of funeral payments to receive additional contributions towards the cost of a funeral from charities, friends and relatives without such being deducted from the value of the funeral payment. We would also recommend that other types of contributions are included, namely payments through Credit Unions and insurance schemes. Question 2 Do you agree that we should not assign the responsible person status to people living in care establishments who receive income-assessed help from the local HSC Trust with their care fees, in place of an applicant who would otherwise be eligible for a funeral payment? 14. We agree with this proposal. 15. In addition, we would recommend that any person in any other care establishments including for mental health treatment is not be assigned the responsibility of funding the funeral. Case study The Law Centre was recently contacted by a Social Worker who is supporting a young man with a severe mental disorder. The young man was deemed responsible to fund the cost of his father s funeral. Shortly after the funeral, the young man was detained in psychiatric intensive care for treatment where he remained for two months. He was extremely vulnerable on leaving care and the Social Worker provided intensive support including on budgeting; indeed, the Social Worker s professional judgement was that the young man was not in a fit state of mind to deal with the financial matters on exiting the facility. However, when the Social Worker assisted him prepare an application for a Funeral Payment, he found it was out of time. The young man is now responsible for the funeral debt; clearly this has the potential to further damage his mental health. Question 3 Do you agree that we should extend the application period to claim funeral payments from 3 months to 6 months? 16. We agree with this proposal. However, while we welcome the Department s proposal to extend the application period to 6 months, we strongly recommend that legislative provision is made to further extend the period in exceptional 5

6 circumstances. The three month time limit is found at paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 to the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (NI) We recommend that this legislation is amended to allow some discretion. We propose that the Social Fund Commissioner might play a role in determining the exceptionality and therefore the eligibility - of a late claim. Question 4 Do you suppose the launch of a shorted application form for claims relating to children s funerals? 17. We agree with this proposal. Question 5 Do you agree that we should clarify that funeral payments will pay for the necessary costs of a burial with or without exclusive rights of burial? 18. We agree with this proposal. Question 6 Do you agree that applicants and funeral directors should be able to submit evidence electronically to support a claim for funeral payments? 19. We agree with this proposal. Recommendations 20. Regardless of the Department for Work and Pensions approach, we would urge the Department for Communities to take appropriate action to ensure that its approach to Funeral Payments adequately meets needs. Accordingly, we echo Citizens Advice s 6 call for: a) The introduction of a Government supported standard funeral packages across the funeral payment; b) Ensuing that the capped element of the Social Fund Funeral payment should reflect the cost of a simple funeral, as negotiated with industry bodies; c) Extending the Bereavement Support Payment to cohabiting couples; In addition we ask the Department to: 6 Citizens Advice Briefing Note Funeral Costs 6

7 d) In relation to the Work & Pensions Committee recommendations, ensure that, as a minimum action, the DfC mirrors the work initiated by DWP so to ensure that this jurisdiction does not fall behind; e) Convene an initial meeting with relevant stakeholders to consider the feasibility/desirability of developing an agreed process in relation to deaths of destitute migrants. 21. We consider that whilst the consultation proposals are a starting point; significantly more work needs to be done to ease the difficulties experienced by bereaved family members. September 2017 For further information about this consultation response contact: Policy Unit Tel: Law Centre (NI) Fax: Donegall Street Text phone: BELFAST BT1 2GY 7