Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the average amount paid to individuals for each passported benefit, including (1) funeral payments, and (2) maternity grants.

There are many passported benefits, for example free prescriptions and free school meals. The information provided relates solely to Funeral Expenses Payments and Sure Start Maternity Grant.

Funeral Expenses Payment (FEP) provides help towards the cost of a funeral. To be eligible for FEP, you (or your partner) must get one or more of the following benefits: Universal Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, the disability or severe disability element of Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. You might also be eligible if you’re getting a Support for Mortgage Interest loan. This is in addition to other eligibility criteria which is available here: Get help with funeral costs (Funeral Expenses Payment): Eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Sure Start Maternity Grant (SSMG) is payment of £500 to provide help with the costs of a new baby (or babies in the event of a multiple birth) if there are no other children under 16 in the claimant’s family. To be eligible for SSMG, you (or your partner) must get one of these benefits: Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element or Universal Credit. You may also qualify if you’re getting a Support of Mortgage Interest Loan. This is in addition to other eligibility criteria which is available here: Sure Start Maternity Grant: Eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The table below provides information of the average award for both FEP and SSMG. Information on average awards along with other data such as number of awards can be found in Annex 1 of the Annual Social Fund Reports which can be found here: Social Fund accounts and reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The 2021/22 Social Fund Report is due to be published in the near future and thus the data below goes up to 2020/21.

Table 1: Average award for Funeral Expenses Payments and Sure Start Maternity Grant

Notes:

1. Data is for England and Wales.
2. For SSMG and FEP, the average award value is calculated by dividing gross expenditure by the number of awards.
3. The average SSMG award is higher than the award value of £500 to reflect the additional award made for multiple births.
4. SSMG devolved to Scotland on 10 December 2018. From this date, SSMG is only awarded in England and Wales. Therefore, the figures report on Great Britain up to 10 December 2018, and on England and Wales from that date onwards.
5. Due to missing data for 2019 to 2020, the SSMG average award figure has been estimated using a historical average. From this, the number of awards has been calculated by dividing gross expenditure by this average award.