Cashing in on grief

Funeral firms accused of ripping off the bereaved after prices rise by TWO-THIRDS in just ten years

ROGUE funeral firms are ripping off bereaved families by playing on their grief, an industry watchdog said yesterday.

Britain’s £ 2billion- a- year funeral market faces a major probe amid concerns that firms are getting away with unjustifiable charges because relatives are too upset to shop around.

Funeral costs have risen by more than two-thirds over the past decade – three times the rate of inflation over that period – according to a major report by the Competition and Markets Authority.

The average funeral now costs £ 4,300, with families typically spending a further £ 2,000 on discretionary items such as flowers and catering, CMA research shows.

It means that organising a funeral now costs those with the lowest incomes more than they spend in total on food, clothing and energy in a year. Experts said it was astonishing that the mar- ket had got away with being unregulated for so long.

The CMA said relatives could save more than £1,000 on funeral costs by shopping around locally.

But because they are distressed and often under time pressure, nine in ten bereaved families end up using the first funeral director they find, according to the report.

It means it is easier for firms to get away with raising prices, with funeral director fees up by 68 per cent over the past ten years.

In its report, the CMA said that internal documents had indicated that some funeral directors have ‘applied annual price rises as a matter of policy for a considerable number of years’ and that these firms cannot justify the above-inflation increases.

The watchdog’s report also noted that, while some smaller funeral directors had tried to keep prices low, larger chains had put up prices year on year.

The CMA added that while some of the bigger firms had brought in low-cost options, they do not make up for years of above-inflation rises. The regulator also found that a lack of transparency over prices, particularly online, made it difficult for families to compare costs.

It added that spending more money did not guarantee a better service. Cremations account for nearly eight in ten funerals, yet limited choices mean prices have increased by an average of 84 per cent over the past ten years.

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: ‘People mourning the loss of a loved one are extremely vulnerable.

‘We now feel that the full powers of a market investigation are required to address the issues we have found. We also want to hear from people who have experienced poor practices in the sector.’

James Daley, of research and ratings agency Fairer Finance, said it was astonishing that the funeral market is unregulated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Mr Daley said: ‘The lack of transparency in the sector mean that many people pay far too much for funerals – and often there is no link between price and quality.

‘There is an enormous variation in standards – with some firms not even having basic refrigeration to store the deceased. We urgently need some minimum standards.’

Ian Strang, co-founder of comparison site Beyond, said the report was ‘a clear indication of how the UK’s funeral sector has been allowed to become like the Wild West’.

Jon Levett, of the National Association of Funeral Directors, said the majority of its members had already taken steps to widen the choices that they offer.

Terry Tennens, of the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, said: ‘It is clearly a wake-up call. We’re pleased to see an acknowledgement that independent firms tend to offer better value.’