Worry as cost of funeral reaches almost £9,000

Funeral costs have reached a record high as mourning family members are forced to find more money than ever for burials and cremations.

Grieving families have seen the price of a perfect send-off almost double over the past 12 years, according to an industry survey.

The cost of dying report, carried out by SunLife, revealed people in the South East could be expected to part with almost £9,000 in all.

Darren Carpenter, of Birds Funeral Directors, revealed the British Institute of Funeral Directors has tried a number of times to persuade the government to help fund a funeral. He said: “It is getting more and more expensive and everyone keeps slating the funeral directors, but my prices haven’t gone up for three years.

“It is the other fees. Cemetery fees go up, minister fees go up and doctors’ fees. People don’t realise how much they are going up.”

Even the cost of a basic funeral is at an all-time high average of £4,090 for the South East which covers funeral director fees, the cremation or burial, the doctor and a minister.

Floral displays, processions and further arrangements could cost upwards of another £4,000, forcing many to hold back on personalising proceedings due to the overwhelming cost.

Mr Carpenter, president of the British Institute of Funeral Directors, said: “There are two ways of dealing with it. We are quite regularly trying to get the government to put up the amount they pay. However, people are responsible as well. They can have a prepay plan or putting so much away in a bank account as you would with a pension.”

For 60 years of exclusive rights to a standard grave and burial, a family in Maidstone would have to pay £1,560 and £545 for a funeral fee. In Tonbridge and Malling it costs £950 for the same rights and £625 for a burial.

For 35 years in Tunbridge Wells it costs £900 with a burial cost of £600. For a 75-year period in Sevenoaks it would cost £635 and a charge of £445 for interment.

The cost of the cremation process is cheaper, with families expected to pay up to £750 and £220 funeral fees in Maidstone.