Anger at soaring costs of no-frills pauper funerals
Authorities accused of profiting
Lisa Boyle
Almost 150 people in Scotland had pauper’s funerals last year because they or their families could not afford a proper send-off.
Heartbreaking figures show the cost of funeral poverty is on the rise with more than £ 200,000 spent on public health funerals by local authorities in 2020.
Glasgow City Council, which carried out 44 no-frills services, usually without flowers, obituary notices or transport for relatives, refused to reveal the costs involved.
Scotland’s biggest local authority said its spending per funeral “would substantially prejudice the commercial interests of the organisation providing this service.”
Edinburgh City Council carried out 69 funerals under the Burial and Cremation Act (Scotland) Act in 2020, at a total cost of £84,715.53.
Perth and Kinross Council paid £ 27,462 for 17 pauper’s funerals – a phrase that dates from Victorian times – while Highland Council spent £ 22,599 on 14 public health funerals last year.
West Lothian Council followed closely behind, spending £14,000.
The costs were signif icant compared to Dundee City Council who held no public health funerals last year.
The majority of these funerals are cremations but burials can take place in an unmarked grave that could be shared with others.
The costs per service last year ranged from £117 to almost £2000.
Church of Scotland minister Reverend Bryan Kerr, of Greyfriars Parish Church in Lanark, has campaigned against funeral poverty for more than a decade.
He said that relatives don’t have a say on their loved ones’ final journey because cremations are cheaper than traditional burials.
Rev Kerr added: “It’s truly heartbreaking.
“There is sti ll a huge gap between what people can afford and the average cost of a funeral.
“Sometimes these cremations don’t even allow a person to attend a service and we fight that at every point.
“This is a massive issue. We’ve had people who pay funeral directors
£5 a week to pay off a debt.
“We’ve had funeral directors go to debt collectors to get money out of families.”
He accused local authorities of profiting from the deaths of poorer people in the community by refusing to lower the price of burial plots.
Rev Ker r added: “Councils have been told to reduce the cost of burials after we called on this previously but because land is different prices in different places, they’re reluctant to do it.
“It’s allowed prices to rise many multiple times higher than inflation over the years, sometimes by 15 and 20 per cent in a year, so burial prices have gone up.
“There are many reasons why public health funerals are so
high and one of them is that local authorities are profiting from death.
“They have almost a stranglehold on burial grounds, which almost exclusively in Scotland are local authority owned.
“Local authorities are setting the prices as they wish and that has allowed burial prices to rise many multiple times higher than inflation over the years.
“If you’re having a burial and the cost of a burial ground is pretty much the only choice you have as a local authority, then surely they have a duty to actually ensure that is affordable.
“We need to treat people with dignity in death and ensure dignity for those who are left behind and that families and friends are able to mark these funerals.
“The Scottish Government did call on local authorities to make sure that these funerals were still dignified.
“When they rolled out the new funeral support payment, they were absolutely adamant that the support system in Scotland should be to try and treat people with respect.
“Just because someone has no means to pay for their loved one’s funeral or just because there are no relatives living, does not mean that person’s life was not a life that is full of worth.”
The number of public health funerals decreased from 178 in 2019 – but the cost went up from £110,510.
The expenditure is expected to be even higher as a number of local authorities would not reveal their spending on the service.
Sarah- Jayne Dunn, financial health policy manager for Citizens Advice Scotland, said funeral poverty was a “real problem”.
She said: “A bereavement is distressing enough for families before considering the costs to have a funeral.
“With many people financially struggling during the pandemic, this may be a growing problem.
“There is help out there, such as the funeral support payment which was introduced last year and covers expense for things like directors fees, a cof f in and flowers.”