Attendance at funerals and tangihanga

If a client meets all qualifications, a Recoverable Assistance Payment can be made for bereaved relatives towards the expenses of attending Funerals or Tangihanga and are limited to the deceased's:

• parents (including step-parents and foster parents)
• partner (providing they were living with the deceased at the time of death)
• grandparents
• children (including grandchildren, stepchildren, foster children, mokopuna - those grandchildren who have been raised by the grandparents as the principal caregivers, and whāngai - children who have been raised, normally by a relation or other person within the wider whānau to which the child belongs) or
• siblings (including half siblings and step siblings, but excluding members of organisations/gangs referring to themselves as 'blood brothers and sisters')

Assistance is not available to the deceased's:

• parents' siblings (including aunts and uncles)
• siblings' children (including nieces and nephews)
• cousins
• in-laws or
• friends

Recoverable Assistance Payments approved for funerals and tangihanga are not to include:

• assistance toward costs arising as a result of a funeral/tangihanga
• costs associated with unveiling ceremonies or
• the cost of contributing toward a koha (for example, food)

For assistance toward the cost of a funeral/tangihanga itself, see:

• Funeral Grants

Except where exceptional circumstances exist, payment cannot exceed:

• 6 weeks of the appropriate rate of Supported Living Payment that the client would be entitled to receive or
• $200

whichever is the least amount.