§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been the expenditure to date on financial assistance with funeral expenses since the abolition of the death grant; how many applications have been accepted and how many refused.
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§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Skelmersdale)Payments from the social fund totalling £1,296,615 were made for funeral expenses during the period 6th April 1987 to 2nd June 1987. This represented a total of 3,132 full and part awards and 1,337* refusals.
*Full data are not available for this period to include the number of applications refused on the grounds that the applicant was not in receipt of one of the necessary qualifying benefits, though it is provisionally estimated that a further 250 claims may have been refused for this reason.