Lady shares battle after discovering funeral would value £8,000

A girl has shared her shock at studying about the prices and charges related to planning a funeral. Nicola’s father handed away final yr, and her mum’s companion handed away 4 years in the past, and thinks extra info at earlier levels, each verbal and in writing, would have been helpful.

The 33-year-old was confronted with serving to plan her mum’s companion’s funeral, which was made more durable as they didn’t know what his needs for the funeral had been.

She defined to Express.co.uk: “It is simpler if you already know their wishes. There were then decisions to be made on things such as which coffin, which grave plot type, flowers, type of service etc.

“There were then more personal decisions to be made such as his clothing, which music to have, and readings. It involved planning, such as timings, and bank payments, and talking to different people/services. I was in shock at the time, so I was really just in autopilot getting these things done.”

She defined her mum’s companion’s funeral value round £8,000, although it was a quite simple service. It was far more than she had anticipated.

She warned different households of the excessive prices related to completely different components that nobody ever talks about.

She continued: “If you haven’t planned a funeral before or are not in the best frame of mind, there are things that might be helpful to know for example if the plot can be dug for multiple burials, or how the deceased may look, or that you may be able to visit at the hospital at an earlier stage before the deceased is taken to a funeral home.

“The cost of the grave plot (for which you have Exclusive Right of Burial for 40 years) was probably the most expensive part.

“I think that made up around half of the overall cost. The cost of the plot alone is a struggle, let alone the cost of the rest of the service.”

Nicola and her mom had been in a position to make use of some financial savings her companion had constructed up through the years nevertheless not all households may have entry to additional money.

She warned different households: “It’s a significant amount of money for a straightforward service and can cause more distress.”

With Dying Matters Week falling this month, Britons are being inspired to consider how they might fund their funerals as soon as they go away to keep away from beloved one’s being left with an enormous invoice.

For the second yr in a row, the price of a median funeral within the UK has gone down – however the complete value of dying has gone up, in keeping with the SunLife Cost of Dying Report 2023.‌

The ‘cost of dying’ is the overall value of a funeral – together with skilled charges, the funeral service, and optionally available extras just like the wake.

The common value of dying has risen by 3.8 p.c, from £8,864 in 2021, to £9,200 in 2022. But the common value of a primary funeral has gone down. At £3,953, it’s dropped 2.5 p.c since 2021.

In 2022, 19 p.c of households skilled notable monetary issues when paying for a funeral. On common, they needed to discover £1,870 to cowl the general prices – up £70 since 2021.

Most of them discovered the cash by dipping into their financial savings and investments, borrowing from a buddy or relative, or through the use of a bank card.

When it got here to current funeral planning, only one in 5 individuals knew how the funeral can be paid for, in keeping with new analysis from MetLife UK’s upcoming The Last Word: Tackling the dying and funeral planning taboo report.‌

From their analysis, solely 1 / 4 say they knew sensible selections for the funeral desire, comparable to burial or cremation, in addition to coffin sort.

By having open conversations with family members, individuals will have the ability to plan the funeral they need and contemplate the varied prices related.‌

Adrian Matthews, Head of Employee Benefits at MetLife UK mentioned: “One thing we can be certain of in life is our death and the inevitable impact this will have on our families, so it’s important that we open up the conversation, tackling it head on so that we talk about it to help minimise the impact on those left behind.

“We naturally take out insurance on events that may never happen, such as to protect our car, home or mobile phone, but we don’t talk about or plan for certainties that will, like death or funeral planning.

“So why is it we often ignore the emotional protection that could support our loved ones – by having the conversation about our wishes and thoughts, so that when the time comes, they can focus on grieving for their loss, not trying to contemplate how to best say goodbye.

“Tackling the conversation head on ensures peace of mind and that we don’t make an already emotional and stressful time more upsetting with the fear of not carrying out the final wishes of loved ones.”