The Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Amendment Regulations 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/481) in so far as those Regulations relate to claims for payment of funeral expenses.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 7 so as to limit the scope of tests which operate so as to restrict eligibility for payments.

In general, where there is no surviving partner of the deceased and the deceased is not a child, there are two stages in determining whether the applicant is entitled to a funeral payment—

(i) under the “immediate family member test” no help is given if there is a parent, son or daughter and neither they nor their partner has been awarded one of the qualifying benefits;

(ii) under the “nature and extent of contact test” no help is given if a close relative had closer contact with the deceased than the person making the claim: where this is not the case but a close relative had equally close contact with the deceased and neither they nor their partner had been awarded a qualifying benefit, no help will be given.

Regulation 3 makes provision for these tests to be disapplied in respect of family members ordinarily resident outside the United Kingdom.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 7A so as to provide for the payment of fees levied by private contractors in respect of a burial.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.