Funeral cost rise triggers MP’s ‘garden burials’ warning – BBC News
Garden grave? No – just a mound of dirt. But a grave in a garden could be disguised in this way, in order to avoid sky-high funeral costs.
Funerals are becoming so expensive that some people are burying relatives in their back gardens, according to South Shields’ Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck, the BBC tells us.
She said some people were holding “do-it-yourself” funerals with rising costs putting even a basic service out of many families’ reach.
She proposed a bill calling for a review of costs and for providers to offer an affordable, simple service.
The Labour MP for South Shields said the average funeral had reached £3,551.
It seems that, even in death, the poor are being unnecessarily burdened with the rising cost of living.
Read more on the BBC News website.
Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
bringing you the best of the mainstream media!
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
i know one family who hadn’t a clue at first how they were going to pay for their fathers funeral./ it was even suggested that his next of kin, his kids (both in their 40s and on benefits) had to say he was not their dad so he could have a paupers funeral. this was anathema to them. they found a way. with the help of some other relatives plus a dss funeral grant. .bit bad though when it comes to that.
But it is possible to cremate someone now, using a direct cremation service for around £1500. However, this is still a lot of money . . .
All I can say is the government will be screwed when I die, I have no known family at all.
Your local authority has a duty to provide for the disposal of a body under Section 46 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. These are commonly referred to as Welfare Burials and are available if there is no one who is in a position to bury the body. Having been responsible for these when working lack of funds would certainly be a reason for the local council to help. They tend to be basic but are conducted with dignity. Contact the Environmental Health department at your local council.
Garden graves are sad enough, but paupers graves are still very much around – as this report from a few days ago shows:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/paupers-grave-shame-10-penniless-4766298
What the hell has this country become, this coalition should hang their heads in shame.
If you leave your body to medical science the cost is zero.
My Granddad used to tell me not to worry about being buried because “they will never leave you on top lad”. With this government it would not surprise me if along with the euthanasia pill they gave us all a shovel to dig our own graves in advance then what money we had left, if any,would be abstracted as a shovel pill and plot tax. If it was on council property they could impose a community charge on our ancestors .A perpetual plot tax to be deducted off any housing or council tax benefit due to the occupier now and in the future. Eternal rental if you like.
Strangely enough I had two jobs in local government where I had to arrange ‘paupers’ funerals ..the second was certainly the more hands on .. so I had to attend .. ensure there was a wreath .. be there as a mourner and to ensure the service was carried out with dignity and respect, I suspect in this day and age none of these things are done.