Cash-strapped councils may increasingly choose to cremate residents because they have tighter budgets and because the deceased have no loved ones to pay for their funeral costs, industry experts have warned.
More than 12 funerals funded by councils, known as public health funerals (PHFs), take place in England every day, according to analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA).
Research by the LGA has also shown services funded by local authorities are on the rise.
A LGA survey of 109 councils in England found there were 4,400 PHFs in 2022/23, a 12.8 per cent increase since 2021/22, when there were 3,900.
Two-thirds (62 per cent) of councils in 2022/23 said the most common reason for these funerals taking place was because the deceased person did not have family or friends that were able to fund a burial. This was also one of the most frequent reasons cited in the previous three years.
Councils arrange PHFs when a person dies outside of hospital and there are no funeral plans in place. Efforts are made to find relatives to handle the estate, but if none are found or able to pay, councils provide a simple service based on the deceased’s preferences, if known.
Section 46 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act says it is the duty of a local authority to facilitate the burial or cremation of any person found dead in their area where it appears no other suitable arrangements have been made.
Christina Martin, a technical support officer who has carried out funeral duties for Wealden District Council since 2017, told i some councils will interpret the legislation to justify direct cremations, which tend to be the cheapest option and take place without mourners, a ceremony and visitors to a funeral home.
She said “funding-based policy decisions being more and more pressured” could spark more councils to opt to cremate its dead residents.
Ms Martin added: “It’s really unfortunate terminology, but it’s public health legislation, so it uses the word disposal. And because of that, there’s no actual legislation for a funeral service.
“Not every council does a service. Ours still does.”
Ms Martin said in the past nine months she has worked on more cases where the deceased have no money in their estate or known associates to cover funeral costs.
For the first time in three years, the cost of a basic funeral in the UK has risen – now standing at £4,141 (up 4.7 per cent on last year), according to a 2024 report by financial services firm SunLife.
Ms Martin said that while the makeup of the cases in her area have typically been wealthier older residents, families of those dying younger – in their forties, fifties and sixties – “don’t have the money to deal with their funeral”.
She said that this trend is likely to increase if inflation and stagnant wages go unchecked.
“Unless funerals become more affordable or people’s wages are made better, these gaps will just, I suppose, keep widening and widening,” Ms Martin said.
The increase in demand for council-arranged funerals has pushed the total spend on PHFs across England up to £5.96m in 2022/23, up from £5.63m in 2021/22, according to LGA analysis.
Philip Spicksley, CEO of the Association of Independent Celebrants, believes the rising costs could mean such services are done away with altogether.
Mr Spicksley told i: “We have seen in the industry a large increase in direct cremations and it is something that I’m sure councils are hooking on to because, of course, they haven’t got a family to plan it, so it’s easy to do a direct cremation rather than a public funded ceremony.”
Ms Martin said introducing a funeral grant not exclusive to certain benefit recipients could help address “funeral poverty” brought on following the termination of the death grant.
“I think that was the real birth of funeral poverty that just created this grey area of people who can afford their bills but if a funeral hits, particularly now they’re so expensive, it’s kind of a crisis. So there needs to be some sort of action about closing that crisis gap. And if they’re not going to, then they need to fully fund councils who are about to fall over,” she said.
Martin Ellis, who has been a funeral celebrant for eight years and officiated PHFs for at least six, said he has noticed an increase in demand for them.
In one month this summer he was required to four which is “very unusual”.
Mr Ellis only conducts non-religious funerals so the number of requests could be higher if he presided over those for people of faith.
He told i: “This can happen to anybody. Everybody is just a couple of bad pieces of luck away from this being how their funeral is.”
Along with Ms Martin, Mr Ellis works to track down relatives, friends or associates of the deceased to help make PHFs as close to a typical funeral as possible.
However, sometimes he can “draw a blank” on finding people who knew the individual to attend.
Asked what could be done to turn the tide on the rise of council-arranged funerals, Mr Ellis said proper funding of council, public health and mental health services could make a real difference.
“In terms of reducing the number of public health funerals, this takes us straight back to government policy, doesn’t it?
“Why are we in a position where people who are vulnerable, often anyway, isolated in the sense that they have nobody looking after them, keeping an eye on them, maybe they’ve even been dead for quite a long time before they’re even discovered – why is that happening?”
Cllr Heather Kidd, chair of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board, said the rising number of public health funerals is a clear example of how councils are “having to do more with less”.
She added that “as costs increase it’s going to add more pressure onto council budgets, even when they can recoup some money from the deceased’s estate.
“Councils need long-term certainty and sustainable funding to ensure that PHFs, along with other essential services, can continue to be delivered to the high standard required.”