Funeral Poverty and Funeral Support Payment Reference Group minutes: June 2024

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Bryan Kerr, Church of Scotland
• Eileen Cawley, Scottish Pensioners Forum
• Ellie Wagstaff, Marie Curie
• Jane Matheson, Scottish Working Group on Funeral Poverty
• Joanne Wakeley, Age Scotland
• John Halliday, Caledonia Funeral Aid
• Kirsty McKechnie, Child Poverty Action Group
• Lindesay Mace, Down to Earth, Quaker Social Action
• Nick Britten, NAFD
• Susan McNaught, Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland

Apologies

• Amy Dalrymple, Marie Curie
• Ewan Gurr, Funeral Link 
• Fiona Arnott-Barron, Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland
• Gerry Boyle, Dignity
• John Cunningham, COSLA
• Julie Dunk, Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management
• Natalie McQuade, Association of British Credit Unions

Scottish Government Attendees

• Posy Musgrave, Scottish Government Policy (Chair)
• Alexandra Wright, Scottish Government Policy
• Michelle Rumgay, Scottish Government Policy
• Barry Pattison, Scottish Government Policy

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The meeting opened with a welcome and round of introductions.

Two action points from the previous meeting were reviewed, the first of which was how to engage with microbusinesses on island communities. Funeral Support Payment Policy have carried out island impact assessments and the group agreed to close this action point with a reassurance that SG officials will ensure that engagement with rural and island communities is factored into communication plans for the regulation changes.

The second action point was about the budgetary implications of the Funeral Support Payment regulations changes. Details of the budgetary implications will be included within documentation when the regulations are laid in September, action to remain open until the next meeting

Amendments to Funeral Support Payment regulations and feedback from the Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS)

An overview of changes to Funeral Support Payment was provided with an acknowledgement this is partly due to changes in funeral trends and lessons learned since Funeral Support Payment launched in September 2019. The changes are as follows;

Reasonability test when a person has been buried or cremated outwith the area they resided, and the funeral takes place in the UK. This change is designed to ensure reasonability, which applies to other aspects of a Funeral Support Payment award, is also applied in relation to where a funeral takes place.

Extend provision to allow FSP to be awarded in exceptional circumstances if a funeral is held outside the UK. If a person passes away unexpectedly while abroad, we would want to be able to award Funeral Support Payment. Normal residency requirements of the applicant being resident in Scotland and deceased being resident in the UK would still apply.

Ensure that those who would have been entitled to Funeral Support Payment before the UK left the EU continue to be entitled.

Remove the provision to deny an application if sufficient funds are available and instead take all available assets into consideration and deduct these from an award. Property or similar assets would not be considered when calculating a Funeral Support Payment award.

Amend the definition of funeral within the regulations to allow for disposal of human remains by alkaline hydrolysis. Alkaline hydrolysis is available outside the UK and may potentially be introduced in Scotland. Consultation on whether alkaline hydrolysis should be introduced in Scotland has been completed.

The draft regulations were sent to the Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS) and the SCoSS report in response to the draft regulations has been received. SCoSS have made 3 recommendations and 3 comments. SCoSS have advised that robust guidance will need to be in place for the regulation changes but no major changes to the regulations will be required.

The regulations will be laid on 16 September 2024 and the impact assessments and response to SCoSS report will also be published then. The regulations will come into force on 2 December 2024. We make relevant stakeholders aware when the regulations come into force.

Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2024

Stakeholders were advised that statistical publications can now be found at Social Security Scotland - Statistics. A general overview of the statistics publication, which was published on 4 June, and covered from launch in September 2019 to 31 March 2024, was provided. The overview gave details on the amount paid out since launch, amount paid out and average payment during 2023-24 and average processing times for 2023-24 in comparison to 2022-23. 

A question was raised about the 10-day service level agreement, which states that Social Security Scotland should process applications within 10 days of receiving all the information required. The processing times for the statistics are from when an application is first received until a decision is made. Funeral Support Payment Policy advised that it has not been possible to calculate this but are continuing to work on getting this information. A follow up question was asked on how long it takes to make first contact with the applicants to request additional evidence and FSP Policy officials advised that although this data is not available, average processing times were down to 10 days in March 2024

Funeral Director code of practice overview

Four consultations in relation to regulations under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 have taken place with Scottish Government responses published for alkaline hydrolysis regulation, management of burial grounds and the funeral director licensing scheme. The consultation on inspection of burial authorities, cremation authorities and funeral directors has finished. The results of these consultations are being used to inform development of the relevant regulations. 

The Funeral Director Code of practice was passed by the Scottish Parliament in January 2024 and is available to view on the Scottish Government website. The code of practice gives minimum standards for funeral directors to adhere to. There is a year long grace period for funeral directors to meet the requirements of the code, which is intended to be brought into force on 1 March 2025. From that date the code will apply to everyone carrying out the functions of a funeral director in Scotland.

The funeral director code has 6 sections. Generally, the funeral director code relates to care of the deceased and is not related to aspects such as music or religious practices for funerals. The 6 sections of the code are as follows; 

Engagement of the funeral director and transfer of the deceased
Care of deceased
Plan in line with wishes of the bereaved
Delivery of funeral
Complaints
Business continuity and managing risks

The code aims to ensure there is consistency on how the deceased and remains are treated. The funeral director code of practice is available online and attendees interested in the code of practice were invited to register online with the Burial and Cremation Team’s ‘Funeral Industry Blog’ for details on updates. 

A new digital funeral sector service is being introduced and funeral directors were invited to take part in interviews on Teams, which should last around an hour. 

Further points raised

Has analysis been carried out to find out how much funeral prices will be increased because of the code of practice being introduced and will this impact on new funeral directors entering the market? Attendees were advised that whenever a statutory code of practice goes through parliament, impact assessments need to be completed. A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) was carried out. This showed that the code has strong engagement from funeral sector and reflects current best practice. Many funeral directors already meet the requirements of the code and big investments are generally not needed. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) requires prices to be transparent, and we hope clients can make an informed decision on funeral director prices and services as a result.

An update was requested on the recruitment of inspectors, when inspections are likely to start and what inspections will look like. Officials advised that they cannot give specific dates but are working at pace on draft inspection regulations. The appointment of inspectors will hopefully align with the code being introduced, and we hope to announce dates on when the regulations will be laid in parliament. The regulations would also be subject to parliamentary approval.

A question was also asked around companies that only have an online presence and are based outside Scotland, and how the funeral director code of practice would apply. Officials advised that the code covers burials and cremations in Scotland but are aware that these companies are outsourcing to funeral directors to carry out the funeral and they will fall within the scope of the code if the funeral takes place in Scotland. There was also an acknowledgement that further work is needed in relation to how to deal with companies that provide direct cremations only, as they may not fall within the scope of the 2016 Act. 

A further question was raised in relation to the transfer of the deceased as this also covers transfer to where the burial or cremation takes place. If an online company is delivering the body to the funeral and is not in keeping with best practice where does this fall?  Officials advised that we are trying to ensure we capture the appropriate range of companies and looking into whether this will encompass direct funeral companies. If a funeral director is expected to be able to let a client know where the deceased is laying at all times, we want same to apply to online companies as well.

A final question was raised in relation to national emergencies and whether there is a danger that rules and regulations could impede burials and cremations taking place timeously at a time where more burials and cremations than normal are taking place. The same rationale could apply to administrative processes for Funeral Support Payment. Officials advised that during the covid pandemic emergency regulations were passed through parliament to stand down requirements that couldn’t be met. This is something that could potentially be utilised again in future in the case of a national emergency.

AOB

The group was advised that Evelyn Tweed (MSP) has raised concerns with the take-up rate of Funeral Support Payment and wants to know how Funeral Support Payment is actively advertised. Funeral Support Payment Policy noted that not everyone who is eligible will apply as some people make their own arrangements to pay for their funeral. There is a dedicated benefit take-up strategy to help increase take-up of all Social Security Scotland benefits. There was also an acknowledgement of the importance of engagement with faith groups and Funeral Support Payment Policy officials will reach out to these groups as part of awareness raising activities when the amendment regulations are introduced.

The aspect of underclaiming of benefits in island communities was raised, asking how we engage with island communities. An Islands impact assessment has been completed as part of the Funeral Support Payment regulations work.

Stakeholders emphasised that they would like to see Funeral Support Payment cover the costs of a basic funeral. Although the value has been increased since launch in 2019, it had not previously been increased since the UK Government first introduced the equivalent Funeral Expenses Payment in 2003. Stakeholders were advised that there is a statutory requirement to increase Funeral Support Payment every year, and it is increased taking inflation into consideration.

A final issue was raised about some funeral directors not accepting clients who claim Funeral Support Payment and a suggestion that, although there is sympathy for funeral directors who may lose out on money, the Scottish Government can perhaps look at stopping potential discrimination. The general view is that this number of funeral directors not accepting clients who claim Funeral Support Payment may be relatively small. The application form gives the client the opportunity to change their mind on who receives the payment, and this doesn’t appear to be reflected with other benefits. Perhaps consideration should be given as to whether people get the chance to change their mind. 

Funeral Support Payment Policy advised that the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 classes a payment to a funeral director as giving the client assistance in a form other than money, and the client must agree with this. We will always give the client the choice on whether they want the payment to be issued to themselves or the funeral director and since launch 63% of payments have been issued to the funeral director.

The chair closed the meeting, thanking all for attending and noting that the next meeting would take place after the amendment regulations have come into force.