Costs have risen
Between 2004 and 2012, the average cost of a funeral in the UK rose from just under £2,000 to just over £3,200 - an increase of about 71%. At what is a difficult time, the last thing you want is to suddenly be surprised by a funeral bill that adds up to a lot more than you were expecting.
And even these figures don't necessarily give you the real cost of a funeral. The figures quoted are the average of quotes given by funeral directors for burials and cremations and include:
- Collection of deceased from within a 20/25 mile radius
- Care of the deceased, robe and dressing
- Payment of cremation/burial, doctor's and Minister's/Officiant's fees (known as disbursements)
- Use of chapel of rest for viewing deceased
- Provision of hearse and limousine with conductor and four attendants
- A mid-range oak veneer coffin
What these figures don't include are extra costs for things many people would want to provide for the funeral of a loved one. These include flowers, catering for after the funeral, a notice of death advertisement in a newspaper, printing of order of service cards and the installing of a grave marker or headstones. These can add many additional hundreds of pounds to the real cost of the funeral
Regional UK funeral costs
Funeral costs can also vary massively between regions. For example a London burial is, on average £6,082, over twice the cost of an average burial in the cheapest region - Northern Ireland stands at £2,908.
Planning for the future
With the cost of funerals currently on the rise, it is difficult to predict what the total cost of funerals will be in either two or twenty years time. But what we can do is help you to be aware of everything that is involved in working out the cost of a funeral.
Something else you can do is think about saving for your own funeral. While this might initially sound rather morbid, it can be an important way of beginning to talk about your own funeral and your own wishes. To find out more about planning for your own funeral and how it can actually be a very positive thing, why not take a look at our article on planning your own funeral.