London funeral prices highest in UK, report finds | EUROtoday

The common value of an attended funeral in London is the most costly in contrast with anyplace else within the UK, in accordance with a report.

Financial providers firm SunLife discovered that the typical funeral value in 2024 was £4,285. In London, it was £5,449 – a 5.4% improve from the yr earlier than and 58% greater than within the least costly area, Northern Ireland.

Concerns have been raised about funeral poverty, with charity Quaker Social Action saying the monetary stress can “rob people of their ability to grieve”.

The authorities gives some folks a subsidy; on sure authorities advantages a Funeral Expenses Payment will help cowl among the prices.

Of those that obtain a Funeral Expenses Payment, the subsidy covers roughly 46% of the overall funeral prices, on common, the SunLife report discovered.

There are additionally public well being funerals, that are a fundamental funeral service organized and paid for by the native authority.

Lindesay Mace, who leads on strategic work to sort out funeral poverty for Quaker Social Action, mentioned: “We hear so often from people that they don’t have the mental space to grieve because all they can do is think about how they’re going to pay the costs.

“Faced with these prices that they cannot afford folks generally use their hire cash to pay a funeral deposit or they are going to reduce on meals or not pay important payments simply making an attempt to scrape that cash collectively.”

However, Clare Montagu, chief executive for Poppy’s Funerals, told BBC London there are ways to reduce costs to make a funeral meaningful.

“You might have a easy cardboard coffin and you can also make it actually private by adorning it your self, placing pictures or phrases or symbols which can be significant to you and to the one that’s died,” she mentioned.

“You can carry your individual flowers, you need not pay for a florist, you’ll be able to run the ceremony your self, you need not have a spiritual minister or a celebrant.”

Jordan Flynn, from SunLife, said the capital had the fewest people making financial provision for their own funerals, and the highest number of funeral organisers reporting significant financial concern as a result of covering funeral costs.

He advised trying to obtain quotes from a few different funeral directors and asking them how to bring the cost down.

The report also found a simple attended cremation with a service was the most popular type of funeral.

This is a less expensive option, and direct cremations – an unattended funeral – are cheaper, costing on average £1,597.

Dan Garrett, from funeral services provider Dignity, said the number of direct cremations had increased over the last five years from about 2% of all funerals in 2019 to about 20% of the funeral market in the last year.

“It’s a considerably extra inexpensive product and 89% of households who’ve a direct cremation then organise a separate celebration of life,” he added.

According to SunLife, the overall cost of dying in 2024 reached its highest level at an average price of £9,797, including the funeral, professional fees and send-off costs.

Ms Mace said government support and wages had not kept up with funeral inflation and many funeral costs had “outstripped common inflation within the final 20 years”.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said: “Losing a cherished one is devastating and we perceive the monetary impacts it might probably have on households.

“The DWP Funeral Expenses Payment scheme makes a contribution towards the cost of a funeral arranged by someone who is in receipt of certain income-related benefits. It also offers an additional £1,000 to meet other funeral expenses.”