Covid may have contributed to rise in number of pauper’s funerals
Derbyshire has seen an increase
WHEN a loved one dies a funeral is normally the next step.
A commemoration of their life where everyone they touched can come together and grieve as one. But what happens when you can’t afford a funeral?
In 2021, the average cost of a funeral was more than £4,000. Finding that amount of money at short notice can be hard for a lot of people.
The alternative is to have a paupers’ funeral organised by the local authority.
Officially known as “public health funerals”, these ceremonies are arranged by councils for those who die in poverty or with no next of kin.
The person who died may have been cared for by the local authority, been homeless, or living alone.
Nationally last year paupers’ funerals increased by 26%, with more than 6,000 being held, with experts fearing that low income, the rising cost of funerals and increasing numbers of people living and dying alone are behind a longer-term trend in paupers’ funerals.
In Derbyshire paupers’ funerals increased by 5.9%, with a total of 54 public health funerals held, compared to the
51 the year before.
However, the number of funerals is likely to be slightly higher, as Derbyshire Dales has not provided figures.
Within the county, Derby had the highest number of funerals, with 21.
In Derbyshire, the councils that provided details had spent £9,741 on arranging funerals in 2020, although some of those costs may have been later reclaimed.
Derby did not release the details about how much had been spent arranging public health funerals.
The oldest person whose funeral was arranged was 95 in Erewash, while the youngest, in North East Derbyshire, was just 31. There appears to be a correlation nationwide between a bigger increase in excess deaths in 2020 – blamed largely on the pandemic – and a bigger increase in paupers’ funerals. The Health Foundation found that the chances of dying from Covid-19 were nearly four times higher for adults of working age in England’s poorest areas than for those in the wealthiest places, further suggesting a correlation. Christina Martin, of Wealden District Council in East Sussex organised and attended 11 public health funerals in 2020, up from four the previous year.
She said: “It feels like it is becoming more common, I have had a couple of Covid funerals. But it seems to be more about the aging population and not always having the traditional family set-up. It’s also about the funding, which is becoming more often the reason”.
“National Insurance is going up, council tax will too. People just aren’t going to have sufficient cash for the funeral.”
Jeremy Field, former president of the National Association of Funeral Directors, said: “For a lot of people finding £3,500-£4,000 at short notice is not easy.
“With a lot of people losing their jobs, that does not help.
“The Government help for funerals for people on certain benefits does not cover the costs and the number of people who qualify for it has decreased.
“I think that’s pushed more people into public health funerals.”
For a lot of people finding £3,500-£4,000 at short notice is not easy.
Jeremy Field