The price of a basic funeral has hit a record £4,285, with increased burial and crematorium fees alongside staff wages driving up costs.
The average price has risen 3.5 per cent over the past year, pushing it above a previous pre-pandemic high of £4,194.
Costs were subdued during the Covid-19 restrictions, when people opted for direct cremations or limited ceremonies with few mourners.
A later rule change forcing funeral directors to display price menus also pushed down the cost of send-offs for loved ones.
A basic funeral covers a cremation or burial, all funeral director fees, a mid-range coffin, one funeral limousine, a doctor, and a minister or celebrant.
The average price has risen 134 per cent since 2004, when financial services firm SunLife started carrying out an annual study on the cost of dying.
Mourning a loved one: A basic send-off covers a cremation or burial, funeral director fees, a mid-range coffin and one limousine
SunLife says if costs had risen at the same rate as inflation over the past 21 years, the average figure would be 75 per cent higher at £3,211.
The company, which interviewed 100 funeral directors across the UK and around 1,500 people who recently organised a funeral, found the price of direct cremations rose the most last year.
The cost increased by 6.6 per cent to £1,597, but it remains the cheapest option.
Direct cremations are conducted with no service or mourners, but ashes are returned to a family afterwards, allowing them to organise a personal memorial at a time of their choosing.
SunLife’s research found that families are more likely to opt for this kind of send-off if they discussed funeral wishes with a loved one before they died.
Some 57 per cent of families who chose a direct cremation said they did so at the request of the deceased, while 30 per cent said they were simpler to organise and 14 per cent preferred to spend the money on something else.
The firm says the number of direct cremations swelled during the pandemic out of necessity, but they have remained popular and now account for one in five of all funerals, up from 14 per cent in 2020 and 3 per cent in 2019.
SunLife found the cost of a full send-off rose 1.4 per cent to a record £9,797 last year.
That covers a memorial, death and funeral notices, flowers, order sheets, limousines, the venue and catering for a wake, plus hiring a professional to administer an estate.
In terms of regional price differences, London, the south east and the east of England remain the most expensive places to hold a funeral, while Northern Ireland is the cheapest.
SunLife says seven out of 10 regions saw funeral costs rise this year – see below.
‘We speak to hundreds of funeral directors every year as part of the Cost of Dying Report research, and they tell us that funeral costs are rising faster than inflation for a combination of reasons,’ says Jordan Flynn, research manager at SunLife.
‘The main reason cited is the increasing fees for cremations, burials, and associated services, driven by limited burial space and higher energy costs for crematoriums – 60 per cent of funeral directors say that rising fuel prices is the main reason for the rise in crematoria costs – and local councils increasing their costs in order to recoup wider losses.’
‘Other third-party costs and overheads such as building costs and wholesale coffin prices are also driving the price rise, along with recruitment and staff costing issues in the funeral director industry.’
Flynn adds that the biggest variation between regions is the cost of a burial. A double-depth plot costs £595 on average in Northern Ireland, but £4,322 in London.
SunLife’s report found one in five families experienced financial difficulty trying to pay for a funeral.
A third who find themselves in this position fall back on savings and investments, while around a quarter put it on a credit card, a similar number borrow the money from a friend or relative, and one in five sell belongings to cover the cost.
The company’s research among funeral directors found 47 per cent have noticed an increase in bereaved families shopping around and getting quotes from different providers.
However, some 63 per cent of people who have organised funerals said they didn’t compare prices between firms, and 45 per cent said their deceased loved one had specified which funeral director they wanted before they died.
How to reduce funeral costs
The ways to keep the price manageable include a cheaper coffin, spending less on flowers, and having a home wake, according to SunLife’s report.
Other budgeting measures are shopping around for quotes, choosing not to embalm, opting for a direct cremation, not hiring a hearse or limousine, and not having order of service cards.
The top tip from funeral directors is cut down on flowers, followed by not using limousines and reducing catering costs.
They say instead of spending hundreds of pounds on flowers, do one simple tribute from everyone, and go to a local florist instead of using the funeral director’s services.
SunLife also asked families who had organised funerals within the past four years for their money saving tips. Here’s a selection of their comments drawn from the report.
‘Embalming. We didn’t know we didn’t need it, and didn’t understand what it was and what it would do.’
‘Death and funeral notices in local papers. No-one saw them anyway. It’s not how things are done nowadays.’
‘Buying so many flowers. Didn’t really need them because lots of people brought flowers themselves.’
‘Too many copies of the death certificates.’
‘The hiring of two limousines – only needed one.’
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