The rising cost of funerals in the UK is resulting in poor families going into debt or turning to self remedies such as burying their loved ones in their backyard, according to Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck. Lewell-Buck introduced a bill that calls for a review of the issue of funeral poverty and would introduce a simple funeral concept into the funeral payments social fund system. The average funeral cost is currently £3,551, and a report by the Royal London insurance company revealed that one-in-five families that face the loss of a loved one are incurring debt from the funeral expenses.
See Press Association, Rising Funeral Costs ‘Causing People to Bury Loved Ones in Back Garden’, The Guardian, Dec. 9, 2014.
Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Law Office of Lewis J. Saret, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
