The report also reveals that funeral costs have risen for the seventeenth year in a row, with the average cremation now costing £3,885 and the average burial £5,033, up 0.7% and 1.2% respectively.
In many cases, it is families that are left to cover the ever-rising costs, because 35% of people don’t make any specific financial provision to pay for their own funeral, and of those that do 34% don’t leave enough to cover the full cost. Overall, just half (51%) are actually making sufficient provision.
As a result, families are having to find an average of £1,789 to cover the cost of their loved ones’ funerals – a total cost of more than £1 billion.
For 14% of families, the burden of covering these costs causes significant financial problems – rising to a staggering 34% amongst those whose loved one died of Covid-19 – and many are having to resort to worrying lengths to pay the bill.
Of those who experienced financial problems (the higher percentages in brackets are the numbers for those who organised a funeral for someone who died of Covid-19):
- 25% (37%) used a credit card (unchanged from 2019)
- 25% (60%) borrowed from a friend or relative (up from 22%)
- 17% (42%) had to sell belongings to cover the cost (up from 15%)
- 13% (14%) had to take out a loan (up from 10%)
- 9% (17%) applied for a subsidy from the Government (up from 8%)**
One in four people organising a funeral said they were surprised about certain costs, with 29% saying the funeral cost more than they expected and a quarter of those said it cost a lot more. As a result, 53% of people made a concerted effort to keep the cost down. One in five (18%) chose a cheaper coffin, 15% spent less on flowers and 14% had a home wake.
Financial issues were worse for those whose loved one died as a result of Covid-19 with a third (34%) saying they experienced issues paying for the funeral.
The Cost of Dying report also revealed that there is one type of funeral that is falling in price. Direct cremations – cremations without mourners present or a funeral service – are now cheaper than ever at an average of £1,554, which is 4.4% less than last year and 9.2% less than in 2018 (£1,712).
Direct cremations are also increasingly in popularity – they now account for 19% of cremations and 14% of all funerals (up from 3% last year), marking an almost five-fold annual rise.
Some of this rise can be attributed to the pandemic as having a direct cremation became a practical choice for many while there were so many restrictions in place. However, there was already a growing trend for direct cremations as they are starting to lose their stigma as the ‘cheap choice’ and instead being seen as a legitimate option for those who want a simpler funeral.
Justin Cole, Director at SunLife “We all know that death is inevitable at some point, but leaving debt and emotional stress behind for our loved ones isn’t, it is really important that we start talking about it.”
“Surprisingly, even amongst those who have recently organised a funeral – and see the emotional and financial stress it can cause – 38% still haven’t done anything about their own.”
“One in ten of us feel pressured into spending more than we want to on a loved ones’ funeral for fear of being seen as cheap, but the reality is that most of us (57%) would be happy with a direct cremation or want our loved ones to spend ‘as little money as possible’ so if we talked about things more, not only would we all get the send-off we want, but we might save quite a bit of money too.”
