Funeral grants

lsm1066 · Post: # 108394Post **lsm1066** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:57 pm

My 19 year old niece and her partner buried their stillborn daughter, Sophie, today. My niece has severe ADHD and is registered disabled as a result. So she is on benefits as she can't hold down a job. Unfortunately, in order to qualify for a funeral grant, she has to be on different benefits. As a result, they couldn't get any help with the cost of the funeral and my sister had to take out a loan to pay for it.

I'm so glad that my sister could do this (and obviously we're helping with the costs), I just wonder what would have happened if she'd not been able to raise the money.

Lynne

Thomzo · Post: # 108397Post **Thomzo** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:13 pm

Lynne
That just seems so wrong. Burying a child must be the worst thing anybody could have to do. To have to borrow money just to do it because of red tape just makes it so much worse.

I am really sorry for you, your niece and her partner. Hugs from Swindon.

Zoe

Shirley · Post: # 108398Post **Shirley** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:16 pm

I agree with Zoe... it seems so wrong.

Big hugs and love to you all.

Russian Doll · Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:17 pm

thats terrible im sorry but i think childrens funerals should be free anyway

the.fee.fairy · Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:26 am

sorry to hear about your great niece.

It does seem very very strange the way that grants and benefits work sometimes..

lsm1066 · Post: # 108504Post **lsm1066** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:24 am

tea690 wrote:thats terrible im sorry but i think childrens funerals should be free anyway

Thanks everyone. This was the first funeral I'd been to that was actually a sad event. The funeral directors were fantastic. They give their basic service free for children (general "background" services, coffin, attendants, hearse and a second car). Unfortunately the crematorium doesn't. The pastor was from their church and he didn't charge, but the cost of using the chapel and the actual cremation costs are a fortune!

Lynne

AXJ · Post: # 108514Post **AXJ** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:03 am

Thank goodness their are some decent people out there, as in those who gave services for free... the rest is absolutely outrageous, how can the council justify themselves, that's what rates (community charge or what ever) are there to pay for.

Two things certain in life Tax and Death... totally out of order, I feel really angry along with you. Perhaps we could start an online petition. It is an issue that should be tackled, and one which does not have the light shone upon it with out associated tragic circumstances.

big hug from the basque country

Russian Doll · Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:33 am

lsm1066 wrote:
tea690 wrote:thats terrible im sorry but i think childrens funerals should be free anyway
Thanks everyone. This was the first funeral I'd been to that was actually a sad event. The funeral directors were fantastic. They give their basic service free for children (general "background" services, coffin, attendants, hearse and a second car). Unfortunately the crematorium doesn't. The pastor was from their church and he didn't charge, but the cost of using the chapel and the actual cremation costs are a fortune!

Lynne

they should at least be on a sliding scale maybe....this country does suck sometimes

AXJ · Post: # 108528Post **AXJ** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:56 am

tea690 wrote:
they should at least be on a sliding scale maybe....this country does suck sometimes

Oh come on all funerals should be free, at least the basic ones. People spend their whole lives paying tax, the at the end the pay back from society is funeral costs and inheritance tax, both of which are an abhorrent abuse of power.

We're treated like ants servicing the queen, just slaves to be sucked dry by the society we prop up with our taxes and our rates etc.

You get taxed on your wages, you get taxed on your spending, you taxed if you give your money away, then you get taxed for death, that is triple or even quadruple tax on one's income.

I believe in tax, it is important, but I only think we should pay once, and as for paying for funeral costs, a basic dignified funeral should be free. If you want prancing white horses with black feather plumes on their heads, with a glass carriage for the coffin, okay make provision, or the living put their hands in their pockets. But to have to pay for a simple funeral is an insult to one's very existence, be one child, adult or geriatric.

Seems that Thatcher was right when she said 'there is no society', if there is society, then it is a sick society, and in a sick society everyone is sick.

Chuck me in the wheelie bin when I die, can't pay. won't pay.

Devon Dumpling · Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:53 pm

Please accept my deepest condolences. My little one died in February this year, aged 7 months.

To most people, my pain is the worst possible kind of pain but to me it is not. I am so thankful that I had 7 months with my little boy and I had the chance to know him. To me, the worst kind of pain is what your niece and the rest of your family are going through as you have few memories of a beautiful little baby. Treasure them because you will need them in the months to come.

starchild · Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:04 pm

what a sad time for you all, Lynne,

It's a challenging situation you talk of, but I'm glad that your niece and her partner are surrounded by people who have stepped forward to help out at this difficult time........

SC x

mrsflibble · Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:30 pm

I can't imagine the pain of losing a child. you are a wonderful family to have helped her with costs and such.