FOI/202600518546 · FOI · not held
Funeral Support Payment statistics: FOI release
Information requested
You asked us to provide information relating to Funeral Support Payment for each financial year from 2020-21 to 2024-25 inclusive, or the most recent five financial years for which data is held.
Request for information 1:
The total number of Funeral Support Payment applications received.
Request for information 2:
The total number of applications resulting in:
An award A refusal A nil award
Request for information 3:
The total expenditure on Funeral Support Payment awards.
Request for information 4:
The mean average award amount, and the median award amount if held.
Request for information 5:
The total number of refusals, broken down by refusal reason.
Request for information 6:
The mean and median processing time, in working days, between application receipt and decision.
Request for information 7:
A breakdown of applications, awards, refusals, and average award amount by local authority of the deceased or the applicant.
Request for information 8:
The average amount claimed for funeral costs and the average amount awarded, with the resulting shortfall between funeral costs claimed and support awarded, broken down by local authority where held.
Request for information 9:
The number of redeterminations requested in respect of Funeral Support Payment decisions, and the outcome of those redeterminations.
Request for information 10:
The number of appeals lodged with the First Tier Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Chamber) in respect of Funeral Support Payment decisions, and the outcome of those appeals, if held.
You also asked us to provide a brief note on how ‘application received’, ‘authorised’, and ‘denied’ are defined in our management information system, and any caveats on year-on-year comparability.
Response
Some of the information you have requested is available from Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.
I have detailed below where you can find the information you have asked for. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
Request for information 1:
The information requested can be found in table 1 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland.
Request for information 2:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. We have interpreted nil award as instances where a client would be eligible for a payment, but following deductions there was no monetary value paid to the client. Social Security Scotland have undertaken no analysis of such cases.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
Social Security Scotland use the terms authorised and denied rather than awarded and refusal. You can find the total number of applications that were authorised, denied and withdrawn in table 1 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland.
Request for information 3:
The information requested can be found in table 7 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland.
Request for information 4:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. The mean average value can be found in table 6 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland, however, we do not hold the median value.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.
Request for information 5:
Social Security Scotland communicates the reasons why Funeral Support Payment applications are denied to applicants on an individual basis by letter. Applications can be denied if the client does not meet the eligibility criteria or if they have provided insufficient evidence to support their application.
Eligibility and evidential requirements are clearly set out and published online: Funeral Support Payment - mygov.scot
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.
The total number of denials can be found in table 1 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland under denied applications.
Information on the primary reason for denial is not held. While work is ongoing to explore the possibility of developing reporting on denial reasons in the future, there is currently no internal or external reporting in place for Funeral Support Payment refusals. As such, the requested information is not currently held in an aggregated format that would allow for analysis.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.
Request for information 6:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.
The median processing time can be found in table 4 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland, however, we do not hold the mean processing time.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.
Request for information 7:
Reporting for local authorities is based on the postcode of the applicant rather than the deceased. We use the term authorised and denied rather than awarded and refusal.
Information on applications that are authorised and denied by local authority area can be found in table 3 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland.
The average award amount can be found in the attached table.
Request for information 8:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested. Our data extracts only contain information on the amount paid and not what was claimed for.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
Request for information 9:
Information on the number of redeterminations requests and outcomes can be found in table 10 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland.
Request for information 10:
Information on the number of appeals and outcomes can be found in table 11 of our latest publication Funeral Support Payment statistics to 31 March 2026 - Social Security Scotland.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.