Government of Jersey

Cost of pauper funerals and deaths for last 10 years (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 04 February 2025.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

1. Please can I have the number of pauper funerals in each year from 2024 to 2014.

2. Please can I have the cost of pauper funerals to Social Security, each year from 2024 to 2014.

3. Please can you surmise how much a single pauper funeral typically, or on average, costs Social Security.

4. How many deaths were recorded in Jersey in each year from 2024 to 2014.

Clarification

The department has no records related to “Pauper funerals”. Clarification sought to confirm if the information requested is instead specifically relating to Income Support special payments, which have been requested, to assist with funerals’.

“Apologies - I believe the so-called 'Paupers Funeral' is an old way of describing those special payments. So, yes please can I have the yearly amount paid in special payments from Income Support if you are arranging a funeral since 2014. Is it too late to ask what the average special payment of this kind is?”

Response

The answers to questions 1-3 are in the chart below:

Year	Special Payment Claims for Funeral Expenses	Total Cost	Average cost per Special Payment
2014	32	£53,506.89	£1,672.09
2015	51	£90,358.17	£1,771.73
2016	35	£66,911.38	£1,911.75
2017	30	£56,934.09	£1,897.80
2018	51	£101,716.89	£1,994.45
2019	49	£98,477.77	£2,009.75
2020	43	£90,834.79	£2,112.44
2021	39	£81,045.53	£2,078.09
2022	38	£88,519.14	£2,329.45
2023	112	£279,499.14	£2,495.53
2024	78	£216,187.68	£2,771.64

4. The number of deaths recorded for the years 2014 - 2023 are published in the Superintendent Registrars Annual Statements, therefore Article 23 has been applied.

The information for 2024 is exempt under Article 36 as this information is intended for future publication as this will be published in the 2024 Annual Statement. This is due to be published by 31st March 2025.

Articles applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant –

(a) of the date when the information will be published;

(b) of the manner in which it will be published; and

(3) In this Article, “published” means published –

(a) by a public authority; or

(b) by any other person.

Public Interest Test

Article 36 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test has to be undertaken to examine the circumstances of the case and decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. Although there is a general public interest in transparency and accountability, this information is in the process of being collated and analysed, therefore releasing the information at this time would not be in the public interest. It is intended to publish the information on the Government of Jersey website by 31st March 2025.