Grieving families pay £678 more for cremations in some areas due to postcode lottery
- Total cremation costs were found to be as little as £392 in Belfast
- As much as £1,070 in ten locations including Oxford and Chichester
- Most expensive council-run crematorium is Milton Keynes, which charges £960
Grieving families are facing wildly different cremation charges because of where they live – with some forced to pay hundreds of pounds more.
Total cremation costs were found to be as little as £392 in Belfast, but as much as £1,070 in ten locations including Oxford, Chichester and Northampton.
The latest analysis shows the most expensive council-run crematorium is Milton Keynes, which charges £960.
Total cremation costs were found to be as little as £392 in Belfast, but as much as £1,070 in ten locations including Oxford, Chichester and Northampton. File pic
The top ten priciest cremation services are all at privately-run crematoriums.
The postcode lottery, which reveals a £678 disparity, comes to light as the Competition and Markets Authority investigates the funerals sector over concerns about soaring prices.
Prices rose by a third between 2010 and 2015, and since then they have risen a fifth to around £780 on average.
The latest statistics, compiled this year by charity The Cremation Society and analysed by the BBC, also show costs had risen in two out of three areas since 2018. Bereaved families are already facing snowballing costs as the fee for a death certificate jumped by 175 per cent in February, while probate fees are also due to rise for those applying to administer their loved one’s estate.
Karen Hitchman, 56, from Mossley, near Manchester, told the BBC that when her parents died within six weeks of each other she could not afford their funerals. She said: ‘Obviously when you’re in a state of shock and you’re dealing with a funeral, it’s the last thing you think of.
‘Afterwards when you sit down and think about it, it’s extortionate. It’s robbery, you can’t afford to live, you can’t afford to die.’ Fran Hall, from The Good Funeral Guide, said when bereaved families are faced with fees, they often just pay what is demanded of them. ‘It’s very unlikely that people will ring three different crematoria to find the cheapest one to take grandma to,’ she said.
Prices rose by a third between 2010 and 2015, and since then they have risen a fifth to around £780 on average
Julie Dunk, from the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, said: ‘There’s quite a lot involved when it comes to cremation, not just the actual process itself but all the infrastructure around it.’
And Simon Blackburn, from the Local Government Association, said council fees usually accounted for less than a quarter of the overall cost. He added: ‘There is no restriction on how surplus revenue is used but it is mostly reinvested in cemetery and crematoria infrastructure, grounds maintenance, staff and energy costs to address demand and provide the services bereaved families want.’
The other crematoriums charging the £1,070 price were in Beckenham, Crawley, Dundee, Friockheim in Angus, Leatherhead, Moray and Nuneaton.
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