Cost of dying unaffordable

[rov1100]

Today it was announced that the average cost of a funeral is circa £7000. As these costs have been rising astronomically how will the average family be able to cope with the death of their loved ones?

[rov1100]

http://www.guardian.c...08/funeral-costs-jump

[DTCwordfan]

bury them in the garden - it is legal but not great for your future house price.

[Euphemia]

It is a bit of a racket. Should there now be budget undertakers, i.e. EasyFunerals?

[Jan1957]

Where the hell did they get that figure from! My husband's funeral in July cost £2,450. Ok I didn't have any funeral cars and it was a cremation but what are these people spending the rest of the money on??

[grffindoor2011]

Cut the gloss out. If you mum dies, drive to an incinerator and do it. Go home back home and have a cup of tea.

[albaqwerty]

We have a cemetary at the bottom of our back garden so we're sorted.

Seriously though £7000, blooming heck, I always thought about £2k to £2.5K

I presume though, because it is 'average' that takes into consideration London where everything is uber-expensive

[Jan1957]

It's actually a Bereavement Payment of £2,000 Eddie. That's what I got, and then a funeral payment of £166.00 towards other expenses.

[Ann]

When my father in law died he had hardly any money in the bank so we had to pay a good chunk for the funeral costs (which we could ill afford too) Despite the fact he was on some benefits we only got a £30 grant - but this was in 2002 so things have obviously changed since then..........

[askyourgran]

That may be for a Burial in the churchyard rov1100, cremation costs are lower, I think they cost between £2000 and £3000. I'd better get saving.

[mrs.chappie]

My uncle's funeral cost just over £3,000 (burial) in May this year.

One thing I did notice on the bill....he died on a bank holiday and there was an extra £150 on top of the normal fee for collection of the body because it was a bank holiday.

I chatted to one of the undertakers who told me that they also charge an extra fee if a body needs to be collected out of normal office hours, 9-5 Monday to Friday. Fair enough I suppose....it's something I hadn't thought about before.

[albaqwerty]

Jeepers, the only time they don't charge you is when you are born.

Mrs C, sorry for your loss. Why on earth would dying on a BankHoliday make any difference?? That is shameful to add to an already distressing situation.

[Jan1957]

Glad you find it amusing Eddie. Personally, I'd rather have my husband back and no amount of money could cover that.

[mrs.chappie]

Alba, the chaps that collect the body are paid extra on a bank holiday for working on what should be their day off, I guess. Overtime rates probably. I was quite surprised too, but when you think about it, I suppose it makes sense.

Jan, I can only imagine how hard it must be for you. Thinking of you. x

[albaqwerty]

Mrs C, I can understand peeps getting paid time and a half or double for a bank holliday, but it seems so shameful on such circumstances.

[mrs.chappie]

Yes, I know what you mean Alba. If I were an undertaker, I'd feel a bit uncomfortable about explaining such costings to a relative. Would've thought they could work their prices out to take into account that some folk die on bank holidays/out of working hours.

Perhaps some undertakers do...I didn't get any quotes as my uncle specifically wanted this particular undertaker (he buried my mum and gran) and my uncle felt that he "knew" the chap.

[mike11111]

Euphemia is not far off the mark. There is a firm of budget undertakers in my area who operate under the delightful name of Go As You Please!

[Old_Geezer]

Dying is free. It's the cost of getting rid of the evidence that hits the wallet. But that's the problem of those left behind. Still it's nice to know you have enough saved away to have your corpse treated with respect when you go. Oh, but there again the taxman probably took it all when you needed help in your twilight years, having decided all the tax you paid in over the years wasn't going to be enough no matter how much it was. Might be cheaper if they just put me in the freezer when I go.