Emma Lewell-Buck MP: Time to review funeral affordability

Labour backbencher Emma Lewell-Buck has a debate today on funeral poverty after a survey showed 50% of people admitted they cost more than they expected. Bereavement is one of the toughest experiences we go through, and giving a decent send-off to the recently departed is an important part of coming to terms with death. Sadly more and more households are struggling to afford the cost of a basic funeral. The overall cost of a funeral has risen by 80% in the last ten years, and a recent report by Royal London has shown that over 100,000 people in Britain are living with funeral debts – a total of £142 million. That’s why today I am proposing a ten minute rule motion on funeral poverty. The motion calls for a Bill to review funeral affordability in Britain, and to fix some of the problems which are currently getting people into debt. One reason is that the Funeral Payments system operated by DWP simply doesn’t work. Applications take nearly three weeks to be processed, but someone arranging a funeral doesn’t have time to wait and hear whether they are eligible. Nearly half of the people who apply for a Funeral Payment are rejected, and find themselves saddled with funeral costs they cannot afford. Changes to the way the system is administered could help people understand whether they are eligible sooner, and so give them a better idea of what they can afford. A second issue is that people have little information about funeral costs and so don’t know what they should expect to pay. Half of people surveyed by Royal London said a funeral cost more than they expected, and this causes particular problems for those on low incomes. People who have just lost a loved one understandably do not want to spend their time shopping around and comparing prices, and many end up buying a funeral they could have got significantly cheaper elsewhere. The Bill would introduce an easily comparable ‘simple funeral’ to show the cost of a basic service and help people make this important decision. Funeral poverty is an under-reported issue. Grieving is a deeply personal process, and people feel a strong duty to provide a service for the people that matter in their lives. It is therefore not surprising that few people talk about their struggle to pay for a funeral. But this is a growing problem that is only going to become more important as death rates rise in the coming decades. I want Tuesday’s motion to be the start of a conversation about how we plan for the future, both as individuals and as a society, and how we make sure debt does not become a normal part of bereavement.