Funeral costs push poor into red

FUNERAL COSTS are soaring, putting many people on low incomes at risk of going into serious debt after the death of a loved one, according to a new report.

Church Action on Poverty (CAP) has found that the cost of a funeral has risen by 80 per cent over the last decade with total costs now averaging £8,427. CAP claims that funeral directors are, in part, responsible for encouraging mourning relatives to choose the most expensive options when planning a funeral. It believes that priests can play an important part in helping to steer the bereaved towards more affordable options.

“Clerics often say they find it difficult to raise issues of money, but it’s important that they do. Not only will they be opening up an issue that’s likely to be very stressful for the bereaved, but also they can share ideas about how to keep the costs down – and they might be the only people able to do that,” said CAP director Niall Cooper.

Fr Denis Blackledge SJ, parish priest of Corpus Christi, Boscombe, near Bournemouth, said he encourages relatives planning a funeral to speak to him first. He advises them to use a local family firm of funeral directors rather than companies that are part of a major chain and tend to be more expensive.

“I say ‘take your trade to the local family firm, you will get better personal service and they will be respectful at Mass. They are on the doorstep and they will be cheaper’,” said Fr Blackledge.

The priest said he also advises those on a budget to buy the cheapest coffin, which costs about £250, and to use their own cars for mourners. However, he has noticed a trend for people to want personal touches that can increase costs: “I had my first leopard print coffin the other day for a lady who liked leopard-print dresses.”

The report, Preventing Poverty Beyond Death: the Churches’ role in tackling funeral poverty, recommends that other Churches should follow the Quaker Social Action’s lead in establishing a “funeral brokerage scheme”. The scheme, Down to Earth, has helped more than 1,000 people negotiate a more affordable funeral, saving them an average of £2,200. CAP is also calling on funeral directors to sign up to the Fair Funerals Pledge, which commits them to making their most affordable funeral package easily visible, and to communicate prices clearly from the initial conversations onwards.

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) says that its members sign up to a Code of Practice that requires them to adapt their services in response to the needs and financial constraints of each family.

The CAP report states that half of all applications for help with payment for a funeral are rejected under the Social Fund Funeral Payment system. It called for an inquiry into bereavement poverty.