The rise in Paupers funerals

Taking advantage at the time of grief paddyann as though you don’t care or didn’t love them enough, unless you spend more money .

my late mum didn't want money spent on things she thought unimportant .When my sister and I went to pick out a coffin we were quite shocked at the sales person trying to up the cost .We knew what we wanted to spend and she kept insisting that the more expensive of the coffins would be most suitable.Some families who are grief stricken would have caved in and spent money they didn't have/didn't want to spend.The more expensive coffin with the expensive handles and name plaque was still going into the flames so where was the sense .There wasn't any sense just funeral directors looking to up the profit.In an ideal world coffins and all the paraphanalia of funerals would be standardised to save folk the difficulty of trying to stay within budget when they are vulnerable

Not cheeriest of topics for the weekend but Coop are currently advertising basic funeral for £1675.

I used to arrange so called 'pauper' funerals for the Local Authority I worked for. Sometimes the deceased had no traceable living relatives and sometimes relatives would refuse to pay even though there was Insurance pay outs.
We used to treat all of them with respect and sometimes the funeral directors and myself were the only ones attending the service.
The most distressing scenarios where they had died alone at home and we had to search through all their belongings to see if there were cash or valuables to go towards the costs. If there were friends who knew them we would try to connect with whichever Church denomination they thought would be best.
We never stopped anyone attending and often through the government solicitors sent any money left over from the estate to home and overseas relatives. You would be surprised how many countries would be involved and how long it took for everything to be sorted.
This was about 20 years ago so I am not sure what the situation is now.

Good . They deserve to be both named and shamed Anniebach

It seems one council has been named

My grandma left strict instructions for hers too . She was a devout catholic and wanted “the works” in church but she surprised me by telling her priest that she wished to be cremated and have her ashes scattered in a special place she shared with my grandad .

I’ve been to 2 funerals in 2 weeks both were quite lavish affairs ( can funerals be lavish ?) the one on Thursday must’ve been at least £ 10k !

I find it terribly sad ( disgusting actually) that many paupers funerals don’t allow anyone to attend and that they withhold dates from relatives .

I was first acquainted with how much funerals cost when I buried my mother nearly 10 years ago, as others have said around £4,000 but hey it was her money and I carefully followed her instructions to the letter, full requiem mass and burial. Catholics can do cremations but her priest gave me the impression they are still a bit huffy about that. It's a hell of a lot of money if there aren't any proceeds from deceased's estate and yes I find the idea of pauper's funerals awful like something left over from the darkest days of the 19th century, as for telling relatives they can't attend appalling

Disgusting isn’t it ?

I wonder how much the actual cost is ? And how much these funeral directors make in profits ?

I’ve looked it up and there really is a limit as to what you can do yourself .

My husband's funeral in 2009 cost nearly £4000 and that was the most basic cremation. We did have a "wake" afterwards which was extra but as he had a large family and lots of friends and colleagues it seemed the right thing to do. I paid for it by selling the car, otherwise I would have had to try to get a loan. The funeral directors were threatening me with bailiffs before I managed to raise the money. The Government payout to widows is only about half the cost of a funeral.

When my son died last year, we had him taken straight from funeral directors to crematorium so no hearse or cars, one floral tribute and a celebrant, we did the after service tea ourselves and the cost was still just short of £4,000.

I agree, Gilly, it is a lot. But as I said you don’t have to have the florists flowers, the limousines, the drinks do afterwards.

Oh may want to, but you don’t have to.

Apparently the cost of a very basic burial is now over £4000 and a basic cremation over £3000 (rising depending on where you are in the country).

This is a massive amount of money for anyone to find. People are getting into debt to pay for their loved ones funeral.

I have left instructions I want the most basic and cheapest of funerals however my son has said to my daughter ‘well I m not having that’ It’s like people equate love with show
I don’t care if they put me in the ground in a shroud or a plastic blooming bag I WONT know

Flowers, flowers!

Actually, Gilly it’s possible to do all that’s necessary for under a £1000 or less, depending on hoe “homemade” you want it to be. If you are on benefits you can get a grant of £700, so I can’t see why anybody would need thousandsto bury a loved one.

I think it’s a bit like weddings. The expectations have grown and grown. Cars, flowers, a do afterwards, Ive even had a present to take home with me afterwards, funeral favours.

Nothing wrong with everyone going in their own cars, a bunch of fliers from the garden and a cup of tea at home. That’s what we used to do.

Me, I’m going straight to the crematorium. They can scatter my ashes under a tree and that’s it.

The cost of even a basic funeral is beyond the reach of a lot of people. Families are often under increased financial strain at this time as they may have had to reduce working hours or give up altogether to care for the sick person.
I don't know what the answer is, I think funeral directors need to look at their charges and not be so greedy. People still want to provide a 'good send off' for their loved ones, perhaps we should look more at eco friendly burials etc. Maybe burials will not be possible in the future for several reasons.