Whoever orders the funeral has to pay for the funeral costs. In some cases, a friend has organised a funeral only to find that the person who has died had no estate or money. As a result, they have had to pay for the whole cost of the funeral.
Some people help with the worry of paying for a funeral by buying a funeral plan. You can pay for funeral plans in instalments or using a lump-sum payment. This allows you to pay for the funeral at current prices, without further worry about rising funeral costs in the future.
You can pay for a plan through any funeral director who takes part, or direct to Golden Charter, Dignity Care or similar schemes.
Insurance companies offer policies to cover funeral bills, which you can pay over a number of years. Also, some funeral directors will open a joint account with you, or offer other options to deposit money to pay the funeral account in the future.
You can find good advice on paying for the funeral, and about funerals generally, in the publications issued by the Benefits Agency Directgov - Death and Bereavement. Age Concern also offer funeral advice and offer a fact sheet called Planning for a funeral. If you're on a low income and need help to pay for a funeral you're arranging, you may be able to get a Funeral Payments from the Social Fund. Other organisations offer help and the local Citizens Advice Bureau are a useful source of information.
Finally, when a person dies in hospital and there is nobody prepared to arrange and pay for the funeral, the Health Authority will do this. Similarly, local authorities have a duty to arrange the burial or cremation of any person who has died in their area. The authority must be convinced that nobody can make suitable arrangements for the funeral other than the authority. The local authority can claim the expenses back from any estate there may be. If there is no estate, a basic funeral will be arranged which may include using an 'unpurchased' grave.
More information:
For further information contact us at:
Cemeteries Administration Office
St Edmundsbury Borough Council
West Suffolk House
Western Way
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP33 3YU
Phone: 01284 757068 or 757635
Fax: 01284 757066
Email: cemetery.service@stedsbc.gov.uk
