A bereavement grant is a payment designed to assist families in dealing with death and funeral expenses. It is a once-off payment based on pay-related social insurance (PRSI) contributions, made from the Social Insurance Fund.
According to the records of my Department no application for a bereavement grant has been received in respect of the deceased.
To qualify for a bereavement grant, the person on whose insurance record the claim is based must have 156 PRSI contributions. Alternatively, they must have paid 26 PRSI contributions and a specified number of credited PRSI Contributions. The claim may be based on the insurance record of the deceased, or their spouse, civil partner or cohabitant.
All adults are treated equally under the bereavement grant scheme and must satisfy the same PRSI conditions.
On preliminary inspection, based upon the information provided by the Deputy, it appears that the person concerned was a single man who did not have any reckonable contributions paid and that, consequently, a bereavement grant would not be payable in this case. However, it is open to the person's next of kin to make a claim for bereavement grant in order for the case to be fully assessed and a formal decision made. In this case, a completed application form should be sent to the bereavement grant section in the Social Welfare Services Office in Longford.
Alternatively, to assist with burial costs, the claimant may qualify for a means tested exceptional needs payments under the supplementary welfare scheme administered by the local Community Welfare Service.