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Dept of Social Security;Social Security Benefits Agency

Answer

Mr. Pond: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time taken between receipt of invoice and payment of funeral expenses by the Social Fund. [113634] Angela Eagle: The administration of benefits is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend. Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Chris Pond, dated 10 March 2000: The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your recent question asking about the average length of time taken between receipt of invoice and payment of funeral expenses by the Social Fund. The Benefits Agency (BA) does not record the date of receipt of funeral invoices in connection with claims for funeral payments, as an invoice or bill is not required in every case. For example, applications made in advance of the funeral may be determined using a "contract" between the customer and the Funeral Director. We do however collect information about length of time taken from the date the application is received in the office to the date a decision is issued. This data does not distinguish between decisions making a full award, a partial award or a refusal. The Performance Indicator for Funeral Payments is that 90% of applications should be determined within 35 days. For the period April 1999-February 2000 BA received 62,557 Funeral Payment applications. 60,411 (96.57%) of these applications were determined within 35 days. I hope this is helpful.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

346 c49W; 113634

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Applications Administrative delays Funerals Social Fund Funeral payments

Contains statistics

Yes