A colleague is dealing with a client who applied for a funeral grant. The grant has been awarded but reduced because someone made a payment to the funeral director as a deposit.
The client first described him as a cousin but now says he is not a cousin but a member of her "tribe" (her words).
The person who paid the deposit has written a letter saying that he only intended the payment as a loan, not a contribution to teh cost of the funeral.
I think if the payment was a loan it does not count as a "contribution" (regulation 8). I'm less sure if the man should count as a relative of the applicant/desceased - I can't find a definition of "relative" but I'm assuming it is less strict than a "close relative". I suppose a looser concept of kinship could count.
Any ideas?

Carol

As the word contribution is not defined then its ordinary meaning must be applied. The OED defines to contribute as to give. Therefore, a contribution is a gift. Thus a loan should not be caught by this.

See CIS 450/1995 which says that a genuine loan which is legally recoverable is not a contribution.

Regards
Paul