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Cost of a funeral rises to £3,700

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
05/10/2015

The average cost of a funeral in the UK has gone up by £140 in 12 months, research has found.

A basic funeral will now cost £3,702, up from £3,562 in 2014. This is a 3.9% increase, which is higher than annual UK inflation of 1%, as measured by the Retail Prices Index (RPI).

The annual study by life company Royal London revealed that the price of a funeral has risen almost as rapidly as house prices since 1980.

Cremation costs have risen more than burials in the past 12 months with the average cremation up 4.2% to £3,294, and the average burial up by 3.7% to £4,110.

Funeral costs continues to be a postcode lottery with prices ranging from £2,976, for a cremation in Greenock, Scotland, to £7,216 for a burial in Beckenham, Kent – a difference of £4,240.

On a national scale, Wales saw the most significant cost rise between 2014 and 2015 of 5.2%. This compares to a rise of just 2.4% in Scotland.

On a regional level, costs rose most in the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humbersideover 4% in both regions.

Royal London said to cope with rising costs people are cutting-back when it comes to paying for essential items such as coffins, and optional elements such as flowers. The most striking example is coffins: last year’s research found people spent £1,108 on average, but the 2015 report showed this has dropped to £989, a decrease of 11%. People are also exploring alternative burial options – 8% are now ‘woodland’ or ‘‘natural’.

Simon Cox, a funeral cost expert at Royal London, said: “A loved one’s funeral can be expensive – a major (and sometimes unexpected) outlay, costing thousands of pounds. The rising cost of an average UK funeral is very concerning; it’s outstripped inflation considerably for many years –almost  in line with house price rises, which as we know continue to rise rapidly as demand outstrips supply.

“Our study shows people are striving to meet funeral price hikes, which they have little control over. Given the stressful situation, shopping around for a funeral is often not an option. Instead people are coping by cutting back on non-essentials if possible, and reconsidering how loved ones are buried.

“The UK funeral system still displays fundamental failings, which we reported last year. Vulnerable bereaved people are taking on increased debt; and we predict this problem will worsen if steps are not taken to tackle the many, persistent causes driving up the cost of funerals.”

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