Undertaker hangs on to ashes until bill is paid
FUNERAL directors refused to hand over a woman’s ashes until her distraught son paid her funeral bill.
Citizens Advice said the man was on a low income did not realise the service had cost £4,000.
Andy Auld, chief executive of the Carlisle and Eden branch in Cumbria, said the undertaker would not let the man take her cremated remains home until he settled up.
He said the case highlighted the growing problem of funeral debt – and urged people not book funerals they cannot afford.
He warned: “You may feel pressured by friends or family to give a loved one a good send-off but there will not always be enough money in the estate to cover the cost. At what is often a distressing time, remember that decisions now will have consequences later.”
Research by comparison website Beyond revealed the average cost of a cremation in England last year was £784, but it formed just one part of a funeral, which cost an average of £4,078. Co-founder James Dunn said: “No provider should be able to cash in on grief.”
Paul Denton, of Co-op Funeralcare, said: “National funeral debt continues to rise. Families face a struggle providing the send-off their loved one would have wanted.”