Mourning families exploited by funeral rip-offs
FUNERAL directors are ripping off grieving families, competition watchdogs have warned, with some funeral costs rising at three times the rate of inflation over the past decade.
After a six-month investigation of the industry, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the average cost of the “essential elements” of a funeral, excluding “extras” such as flowers, food and alcohol, is now £4,300. It said the scale of the price rises did not appear to be justified by higher costs or service improvements.
The regulator believes the problem is so bad that it has decided to use its powers to launch a full-scale investigation, which could result in it forcing funeral parlours to lower prices.
The problem mainly lies with large national providers, the CMA said, meaning that customers can save more than £1,000 on average by considering local firms and shopping around. However, it added that people organising a funeral were usually distressed and often not in a position to do this, making it easier for some funeral directors to charge higher prices.
It added that prices are also often not available online, making it difficult to compare and get the best deal.
Cremations account for 77 per cent of funerals, the CMA found, yet choice in most local areas is limited and fees charged by crematoria have risen by 84 per cent on average in 10 years, more than three times inflation.
Ian Strang, co-founder of funeral comparison site Beyond, said of the report: “It is a clear indication of how the UK’S funeral sector has been allowed to become like the wild west, left unchecked by bodies like the National Association of Funeral Directors, who have presided over a plethora of scandals and decades of price rises.
“Prices have been climbing unjustifiably quickly, to the extent that consumers are collectively overpaying by £590 million a year due to a lack of transparency or accountability – but this stops now. While savings of more than £1,000 are often easily made by shopping around, particularly online, it is still true that only 4 per cent actually do that, often because of a very ‘British’ taboo around death and being seen to ‘shop around’ for funeral prices.”
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “People mourning the loss of a loved one are extremely vulnerable and at risk of being exploited. We need to make sure that they are protected at such an emotional time, and we’re very concerned about the substantial increases in funeral prices.
“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, so that we can take any action needed to fix these problems.”