Why the cost of death is increasing so fast
Revenue-driven crematoria and rocketing church costs are partly to blame 
Photo: ALAMY
The broadly mentioned dilemma of fuel poverty, when an increasing proportion of a household’s revenue is spent on energy, was trumped final week by one more concept – funeral poverty.
The soaring cost of coping with the death of a family members member is pushing far more and more people towards state-aided funeral arrangements, in accordance to a review by the University of Bath, published on Tuesday, and reported right here .
There are two approaches in which the state can aid meet burial charges. The initial is by way of a payout underneath the “Funeral Payments” system overseen by the Department for Operate & Pensions (DWP). This is aimed at assisting reduce-cash flow households meet burial expenses of spouses or young children. To qualify, households want to be acquiring specific advantages.
But with this method the payments have to be made initial and claimed for later – and a lot of claims are declined by the DWP’s assessors. In the last 12 months for which information is obtainable, 2010/eleven, there have been 69,000 applications for a Funeral Payment, the review discovered – of which 38,000 were paid. And the common claim paid was £1,217, even however the expense of the common funeral at the time was all around £3,000. It is now significantly more.
The other type of state assist is, in Dickensian terminology, the “paupers’ burial”, acknowledged officially as a “Public Overall health Funeral”. This is in which the nearby authority steps in – in the absence of all else – to foot the total bill. Demand for these funerals is on the up, says Kate Woodthorpe, the University of Bath’s sociologist. She concluded that the decline in the stigma associated with the “pauper” issue, coupled with the challenging process of making a declare under the Funeral Payments technique, was resulting in escalating demand.
The overriding issue is increasing expenses.
Source: Sun Existence Expense of Dying Report 2013
But what goes into a funeral that is growing so sharply in value? The most authoritative work on the subject, also undertaken by Ms Woodthorpe’s group but published individually from the newest report, has the complete “cost of death” at £7,600 and increasing by about 7pc per 12 months – some three times the wider price of inflation.
That figure breaks down into the “non-discretionary” or vital fees of funeral directors and charges for cremation and an officiating minister, place at £3,456. These charges are up by 80pc in the nine years since the survey was 1st undertaken in 2004.
Thanks to the rise in energy charges the cost of cremation has risen at a constantly increased price – over 5pc per year in all of the past 5 years – than the expense of burial. Ms Woodthorpe’s analysis pointed the finger at crematoria working for revenue, and said: “Crematoria used to be run virtually fully by nearby authorities but now there is an elevated presence of private crematoria. This is also contributing to funeral inflation.”
Even so, a burial is roughly £1,000 dearer than cremation.
A single of the quickest-growing “non-discretionary” costs has been church fees, which at the Church of England shot up by virtually 60pc from £102 to £160 between 2012 and 2013.
The price of funeral directors has not been growing as quick as other products but this could adjust. A single in 5 families is unable to meet the complete expense of a funeral, and a lot more directors’ firms are going unpaid, the report warned. “Funeral directors are more and more exposed to the likely of poor debt, which could account for their having to enhance funeral costs, with nearly two thirds now asking for a deposit upfront,” it stated.
The rest of the £7,600 comprises funereal include-ons this kind of as flowers, transport, printing and other costs related with the ceremony. The typical sum spent on flowers is £160 and a memorial charges an regular of £860.
Need to you acquire a funeral policy?
There are two methods to prepare ahead: get a “prepaid” funeral, or buy insurance coverage aimed to create an satisfactory sum at your death.
With the very first type of plan you are insured against rises in the long term costs of funerals since the prepare provider will spend. But not all charges are integrated, so the schedule demands to be scrutinised, ideally with your executor to hand.
A lot more easy are daily life insurance coverage policies. But right here there is the risk of costs obtaining risen above the sum insured. Also, with most of these policies you have to pay out a premium every single yr, nonetheless prolonged you dwell, posing the threat that a lot more will be paid in than out.
But in this circumstance stopping paying out would cause the cover the lapse.
Buyer group Which? gives a assortment of information about funeral payment choices. It consists of the following insurance coverage-based mostly example, exactly where “a 60-yr-previous guy paying out £15 a month to Legal & Basic would get £2,879 for a funeral after two many years. Following his 76th birthday, he’d have paid much more than the policy covers and would have to carry on paying until he died or reached 90.”