The Death Grant (Hansard, 23 June 1981)

§ Baroness Macleod of Borve
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Minister of State, Department of Education and Science (Baroness Young)
My Lords, the Government are continuing their consideration of all aspects of the death grant and will make an announcement as soon as this is complete.

§ Baroness Macleod of Borve
My Lords, while thanking the noble Baroness for that Answer, may I draw her attention to the fact that the death grant has not been increased since 1967, that during those years inflation 964 has gone up by 372.4 per cent., and that £30 is nowhere near enough to cover even a small part of the cost of a funeral, which at present day rates is £250 minimum?

§ Baroness Young
Yes, my Lords, the Government are aware of those facts and recognise the difficulties they can cause for certain people. The fact that the death grant has not been reviewed since 1967 indicates how difficult it is to balance the various pressures towards reform which have built up over the years against the economic circumstances in which we find ourselves.

The Lord Bishop of Rochester
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that the General Synod of the Church of England passed a Motion in 1978 calling on Her Majesty's Government to increase realistically the present death grant and to keep the matter under review? It was on the initiative of my own diocese that that Motion was passed. Have the Government in mind the desirability of making it possible for certain people to have the cost of the most simple of funerals by virtue of receiving a realistic death grant?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate for the point he made about the proposals of the Church and I would reassure him that, as my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Social Services has indicated, this matter is still under discussion. There are no definite proposals at present, because there are of course various ways, if it were regarded as right, of providing selective help which would not involve means testing as it is usually understood. All the different propositions are still under consideration but no decision has yet been taken.

Lord Wallace of Coslany
My Lords, is the Minister aware that many elderly people are suffering acute anxiety over the problem of funeral costs? The approach of these old people is the need to be decently buried, and one can understand that. Many of them, because of their age, have fully paid up policies but could not afford, even if it were possible, to reinsure. However, the main question I wish to ask the noble Baroness, and of course it affects other people, is about the position of people receiving social security benefits, especially supplementary benefit. Do they get help if a death occurs in the family? This is an important issue on which I would be obliged to receive some information from the noble Baroness.

§ Baroness Young
Yes, my Lords; people whose resources, with or without the death grant, are insufficient to meet funeral costs can apply for help by way of supplementary benefit. The noble Lord may like to know that out of about 600,000 deaths each year, during 1979 we believe that between 4,000 and 7,000 such payments were made.

Lord Wallace of Coslany
I thank the noble Baroness for that reply, my Lords, because it will give a deal of comfort to a large number of people. Bearing in mind the urgency of the matter raised in the main Question, may I ask the noble Baroness to urge on the Government the necessity of speeding up a decision on this issue?

§ Lord Sudeley
My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether she has any figures of the rate of death grant in other European countries, especially in the Common Market, so that we may compare them with the rates of death grant in this country?

§ Baroness Young
I do not have those figures with me, my Lords.