Changing lifestyles and disconnected families mean that the state must increasingly take charge of the final decisions.

1. Growth in paupers’ funerals is a sign of the times
A recent freedom of information request by the BBC
found that so-called paupers’ funerals – where the local
authority has to arrange and pay for funerals because
there is no one else to do so – have increased by 11% in
the UK since 2009/10, with the biggest rise in the South
East at 24%. Although the South East includes London,
where an increase is, perhaps, explicable, a growth of
21% in Scotland and significant growth in the Midlands
and in Wales does show that this is a general trend.
Local Councils spent £1,179,329.00 on funerals – nearly
a 40% increase in four years – despite these being the
most basic funerals, typically costing around £1,000
each. The funds are spent either on funerals where a
person has died with no family at all, or where the
family can demonstrate such financial need that
assistance with costs is offered.
Traditionally, councils would expect to pay for perhaps
half a dozen paupers’ funerals per year, usually for
homeless people. Nowadays, that has all changed with
increasing numbers of people ending their lives isolated
and alone, far from their home towns. Higher costs
associated with funerals – the UK average is now £3,700
– has also driven the trend of families seeking
assistance, although the £700 available towards funeral
home costs has been fixed for the last ten years.
Cardiff Council recently arranged the funeral of a
retired Headteacher aged only 67, so the idea that only
vagrants and addicts need this kind of support is
outdated. A new generation of people who live outside
the traditional parameters of married couple, children,
home town and job for life now risk being isolated at
the end of their lives. The officials who deal with these
situations are compassionate and diligent, but they
can’t hope to compare to the preferred option of family
and friends.
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