The funeral f irms that ‘cash in on your grief ’

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 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 in that period – according to a major report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Separate Scottish Government figures show that north of the Border the cost of a funeral rose 92 per cent over the same period.

The CMA says it is working closely with the Scottish Government because it is in the process of introducing regulation. An Inspector of Funeral Directors was appointed in Scotland last year in the wake of the baby ashes scandal at crematoria.

They are working closely with funeral directors, the Inspector of Crematoria and the funeral industry to understand how they conduct their business, and will make recommendations to ministers on how the industry should be regulated.

The average funeral in the UK 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 the market 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.

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 found.’

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.

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