Scottish Government to tackle ‘funeral poverty’
UK – The average funeral in Scotland is now €4,500. This has become too expensive for many low income families.
A new independent report from the Scottish Working Group on Funeral Poverty and Citizens Advice Scotland made a set of recommendations to help families out of debt.
“With funeral costs rising above inflation, and many low income families not having a funeral plan or savings in place for a funeral, we are concerned about funerals being delayed and families taking on unmanageable debt.
The main points of the report are:
- Social Security must meet real costs of burial
- Local authority costs should be more consistent.
- Funeral Directors should be licensed.
- Creating a new ‘Scottish Funeral Bond’ to standardise costs and facilitate a funeral savings plan.
- Encourage people to share funeral wishes with their families.
The Scottish Government has now confirmed that they are going to monitor funeral poverty and evaluate payments for funerals. It will also organise a funeral conference to involved government and stakeholders. The government is also considering the recommendation of the Funeral Bond idea to help people plan ahead.
John Birrell, chair of the Scottish Working Group on Funeral Poverty and Citizens Advice Scotland said, “I am increasingly concerned that if action is not taken bereaved relatives are going to experience more and more distress and I hope the suggestions made in our report will go some way to mitigate this.”
“This report outlines a number of recommendations to tackle the problem head on, but we know that we can’t solve funeral poverty alone, which is why we will bring together funeral directors, charities, councils and health and social care services for the first ever national conference on funeral poverty.
“We know funeral directors will want the best for their customers and we plan to work with them and others to explore the recommendations in the report including whether services could be offered through a ‘Scottish Funeral Bond’ scheme. This could help unlock lower cost options for people who choose them.
“Our new powers over funeral payments will give us the opportunity to set up a benefit which is simpler and more streamlined. Speeding up the application process will help bereaved people know if they will receive a funeral payment, and we believe it will create more certainty for funeral directors, allowing them to give appropriate advice and potentially eliminating the need to take a deposit from those who make a successful application.”
“As the cost of funerals continues to rise, we have identified four key areas where action is needed – the cost of the burial or cremation, the funeral director costs, the inadequacy of the Department and Work and Pensions’ support and the choices made by those arranging funerals. For each of these we have brought forward suggestions for action.
“I am increasingly concerned that if action is not taken bereaved relatives are going to experience more and more distress and I hope the suggestions made in our report will go some way to mitigate this.”
A new report on funeral poverty by CAS has found funeral director and local authority costs should be more consistent and bereavement support more widely available.
Curated from New Report on Funeral Poverty | Citizens Advice Scotland
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