UK bereavement statistics
Probate timelines, court fees, inheritance tax receipts and funeral costs — each taken from a named government source rather than an industry average, so you can set expectations on how long things take and what they cost.
Every card carries the date its figure was last checked. Check that date before relying on a number: this site is not staffed, and a figure is only as current as the day someone last looked.
Probate processing times
~5 weeks
National average, all application types
→ Stable vs Q3 2025 — down from a peak of ~16 weeks in late 2023
Probate application fee
£526
Per application (estates over £5,000)
→ Rose from £300 to £526 on 13 July 2026
Probate registries by court
11 registries
Across England, Wales, Scotland & NI
↓ Spread between fastest (Edinburgh ~6.5 wks) and slowest (London ~9 wks) is ~2–3 weeks; gap has narrowed since 2023 consolidation
Bereavement Support Payment processing
8–12 weeks
Online claim → first payment
→ Online claims clear in ~8 weeks; paper claims 10–12 weeks. Rates frozen at 2017 levels — no real-terms uplift in 2026/27
HMRC processing times for deceased estates
20 working days
IHT400 → HMRC's unique code (needed to apply for probate)
→ HMRC publishes no overall service standard for the IHT400; the 20 working days is its stated time to issue the unique code, and 14 weeks of silence means no compliance check
UK inheritance tax receipts
£8.5bn
Total IHT receipts, April 2025 to March 2026 (HMRC)
↑ Up ~19% over three years (£7.087bn in 2022/23 to £8.467bn in 2025/26); driven by the frozen £325K nil-rate band catching more estates
Funeral costs by region
£3,200–£7,000
Full-service funeral, regional spread
↑ London highest (£5,000–£7,000); Wales & North East lowest (£3,200–£4,500). Spread ~£1,800–£3,500 — has widened since 2023
How to read these figures
Every statistic links back to a named UK government source, and every card shows the date it was last checked against it. There is no promised refresh schedule — this site is not staffed, and the sources publish on their own cycles. Where a card's date is old, follow the link and check the figure yourself.
Where you see a range — "~5 weeks" — the figure is an average. Individual cases vary with the complexity of the estate, whether the application was complete, and which registry handled it. The detail page for each topic explains what moves the number.
Common questions
How often are these UK bereavement statistics updated?
There is no fixed schedule. Each figure carries the date it was last checked against its source, shown on the card — treat that date as the answer to this question. The underlying sources publish on their own cycles: the Ministry of Justice quarterly, HMRC monthly for inheritance tax receipts, HMCTS whenever fees are revised. If a card's date is old, go to the source named on it.
Where do these figures come from?
Every figure is sourced from a named UK government department or industry report: Ministry of Justice (probate processing times and registry data), HM Courts & Tribunals Service (probate fees), HM Revenue & Customs (inheritance tax receipts and processing), Department for Work and Pensions (Bereavement Support Payment processing), and SunLife / Royal London (regional funeral cost surveys). Source URLs are linked on every detail page.
Why does Farra publish bereavement statistics?
Because most figures quoted online are industry averages of unclear vintage, and the ones that matter when you are arranging a funeral or waiting on probate are published by the government for free. Collecting them in one place, each with its source and the date it was checked, means you can see how old a number is instead of guessing.