Funeral delay raised in Commons

People on benefits receive help to pay for family funerals

An MP says he is "absolutely appalled" a family waited two months to bury a relative because of a delay in receiving a government support payment.

The family, from Newtown, Powys, contacted a Shrewsbury funeral director in August but the delay meant he was unable to go ahead with the funeral.

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski said he would raise the issue in the Commons.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it did its utmost to clear applications as quickly as possible.

The family, who want to remain anonymous, said they were heartbroken over the delay from the DWP social fund.

They have a duty of care to make sure that it's resolved in a speedy way Daniel Kawczynski, Shrewsbury MP

The payment is worth about £700 and is there to help people on low incomes or benefits to pay for funeral arrangements.

Mr Kawczynski said the case of the family had now been resolved but highlighted a "national problem".

The MP said he was visited by Clive Pugh, the Shrewsbury funeral director working for the family, who he said had four other funerals delayed by the late payments.

The MP said: "I was absolutely appalled. When you think about the idea that a constituent would be waiting for two months, maybe even more, to have a loved one buried. That's absolutely despicable."

He said the department had a "duty by law" to provide the payments.

'Slows process'

"They have a duty of care to make sure that it's resolved in a speedy way," he said.

The family said they applied to the DWP five days after their elderly relative's death on 13 August.

They wanted to bury their loved one in Shrewsbury, where the family once lived, but the funeral director had to be paid up front before the burial could take place.

Mr Pugh has said the application process was too complex.

A DWP spokesman said: "In order to process applications as smoothly as possible we do require certain information from the relative of the deceased, the details of which are provided along with the claim form.

"Unfortunately, on some occasions, it is necessary to go back to the relative to get information that may have been missing from the original application, which inevitably slows the process down a little."