Funeral payment from the Social Fund

A client, suffering from a mental health condition, purchased a burial plot for her husband, who was also her carer. He had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The purchase in advance was done because she knew she would not have been able to cope and make necessary arrangements when her husband actually died. Enquiries were made of the DWP as to whether it was OK for her to do this, and the advice was yes. The plot was purchased and 5months later the client’s husband died.
A claim for a Funeral Payment from the Social Fund was made, and refused, on the grounds that the plot, at the time of the burial, was not new - as required by reg. 10 Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regs 2005 - and the purchase 5 months prior to the burial was analogous to a funeral plan.

Is this as final a decision, given the circumstances, as the DWP are maintaining?
The decision has been appealed and we are awaiting a hearing date.
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Separately, a complaint will be made about the advice that was given that the prior purchase was OK..

I would be grateful for any insights on this matter. I am not optimistic of the chances of success of the appeal from what I can gather.

Likely a hiding to nothing with regard to the advice. Important to remember that DWP effectively have no advice giving function or role and nor do they employ people specifically for that purpose. What you have is a series of call centres, most often out-sourced. As ever, if a question can’t be answered from a script then instead of saying “I don’t know” they will have been offered some advice. Slightly different if the advice was in writing and incomplete or inaccurate in any way. A DM cannot be bound by the duff advice but there would at least be straightforward cause for complaint.