Too poor to die? The rise of public health funerals and the cost of dying crisis demands better welfare support and greater regulation of the funeral industry

In my last piece for the PRAN newsletter (November 2025), I wrote about the cost of dying crisis affecting the experiences of people with terminal illness. In this issue, I write about another dimension of the cost of dying crisis: funeral poverty, and the growing inability of many people in the UK to cover the costs of a basic funeral – either for themselves or a deceased family member.

When this occurs, it’s left to the state to step in and help families cover the costs of a very basic funeral. Yet with rising funeral costs and falling state support, alongside the on-going cost of living crisis, this is often not enough, and necessitates a very basic, stripped down, ‘welfare’ or ‘public health funeral’ (PHF) – or what was once known as a ‘pauper’s funeral’ – provided by local authorities.

As a sociologist of dying, death and bereavement, the significance of funerary rites and rituals in helping those left behind following death is well established. Such rituals, whether religious or otherwise, can help honour the dead but also comfort the bereaved, helping them to begin the psychosocial transition to life without the deceased. 

The social significance of death ritual is underlined by the fact that people will often go to great lengths, and often to great expense – in ways that are often beyond their financial means – to give the deceased a ‘good send-off’. The desire to avoid the stigma associated with not being able to do so is often a key factor, and driver of funeral-related debt.

In recent years, the social imperative to provide a ‘good send-off’ has led some people to take out so-called pay-day loans to cover the cost of elaborate and expensive funerals, often resulting in spiralling and insurmountable debt due to very high interest rates and late payment fees charged by lenders.

The return of the pauper’s funeral

Until fairly recently, the ‘pauper’s funeral’ was redolent of Victorian times, when those without the financial means to cover the cost of a funeral were buried in unmarked, mass graves (or what Americans call ‘potters fields’). 

Yet the first quarter of the 21st century has seen the unwelcome return of ‘welfare’ funerals for those unable to afford funeral costs, with minimal ritual and an unmarked grave, without a headstone, if the deceased is buried (cremation, unless rejected on religious or cultural grounds, is often the preferred option, as this is cheaper).

The number of public health funerals has increased across the UK since the financial crash of 2008, more than a decade ago. It has been exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis, as people struggling to cover day-to-day living expenses are unable to put money aside in savings to cover funeral costs. Data from a 2021 report by insurance providers, Sun Life, indicates that some 113,000 people in the UK experienced financial difficulties in paying for a funeral.

Recent data from an ESRC study by researchers at Southampton University’s Centre for Population Change has also indicated a 47 percent increase in public health funerals in the 7 years between 2015 and 2021. Some of the worst affected areas include areas of the North-West, such as Blackpool, indicating that the inequalities and poverty experienced in life are also carried over into death and the experiences and events surrounding it.

In Blackpool, an area affected by coastal poverty, and one of the most deprived areas of the UK, around one in every 20 funerals is a public health funeral. This is a shocking indictment and reflection of growing levels of poverty and widening inequalities across the UK.

Why is this happening?

The rising cost of funerals, declining levels of state support for associated funeral costs, and ongoing cost of living crisis have created fertile conditions – a ‘perfect storm’ – for funeral poverty to flourish. 

Funeral costs have seen a 112 percent increase in 13 years between 2004-2017, with the average funeral now costing £4,285, an increase of 3.5 percent on the previous year according to the latest report by insurance provider Sun Life.

Meanwhile, financial support from the Department of Work and Pensions to help cover funeral costs for those most in need has fallen in real terms. By 2016-17, the Social Fund Funeral Payment (now called Funeral Expenses Payment) only covered 35 percent of average funeral costs, leaving a shortfall of 65 percent. At the same time, wages in the UK have also declined in real terms since the financial crisis of 2008, resulting in less scope for people to put money aside for later life, let alone saving to cover funeral expenses.

Fixing the problem

Finding a solution to funeral poverty, like many other dimensions of poverty, will only come when we eliminate the wider factors fuelling poverty more generally, including unemployment, poorly paid and precarious jobs (leading to in-work poverty), and an inadequate social security system. 

There are, nevertheless, a number of strategies and interventions that could reasonably be put in place to help ameliorate and limit the impact of funeral poverty.

One of these is greater regulation of the funeral industry in the UK, which at present, remains largely unregulated. Campaign work in this area by Quaker Social Action, as part of their ongoing work on a Fairer Funerals Pledge, has led to significant improvements, resulting in the Funerals Market Investigation Order, which, from September 2021, made it mandatory for funeral directors to be transparent about their prices. 

This will help eliminate some of the practices found to be quite common across the industry, including upselling and a failure to disclose accurate pricing information, or even to discuss a client’s budget with them before purchasing a funeral. 

Unlike other major life purchases (like buying a house, car or holiday), selecting a funeral following the death of a family member is one area in which consumers routinely fail to shop around for the best deal, often simply accepting the first one they come across. This is explained by the emotional state in which people find themselves following bereavement, and one that leaves them vulnerable to exploitation.

Other alternatives

Alongside better pricing and regulation of the funeral industry, and greater state support for funeral costs for those most in financial need, the promotion of low cost funerals as a socially acceptable option would serve to help reduce the financial burden of expensive funeral costs by reducing expectations about what a ‘good send-off’ actually looks and feels like.

Direct cremation has grown in popularity in recent years and is the cheapest option, with an average cost in the region of £1500. This involves cremation only of the deceased’s body, with no attendance of mourners or formal service. Many people who select this option routinely choose to hold a memorial service (or ‘celebration of life’ event) for family and friends of the deceased at some point in the weeks or months following cremation.

Green funerals (or ‘eco-burial’) is another alternative, though costs often remain prohibitively high and – like many other aspects of attempts at living sustainably – are likely to exclude many people on low incomes. The average cost of a green burial can range anywhere between £2,500–£5,000, often because of the fees associated with interment, the costs of a burial plot, containers for storing the body (wicker and sustainably sourced wood being the most expensive), and memorial markers – such as tree planting. 

None of this will solve funeral poverty. For that to happen we need a much more comprehensive package of welfare, funeral industry regulation, and wider changes in society to improve incomes and reduce poverty. These measures, however, like progress on a Fairer Funerals Pledge, are a small step in the right direction. 

Find out more

Quaker Social Action, who have led a campaign for fairer funerals, provide useful answers to frequently asked questions about funeral poverty and links to relevant resources on affordable funerals.

Consumer rights programmes, like BBC Money Box, provide useful information and advice on affordable funerals, including on donating one’s body to medical science, which does not usually involve any costs, and is described as one of best gifts a person can give to others.

The All Consuming BBC podcast, available on BBC Sounds, also has an episode on funerals that features a small segment on funeral poverty (about 9 minutes in).

Academic research by Samanatha Fletcher and William McGowan, researchers based at North-West universities, offers a critical and social policy perspective on the state of the UK funeral industry.