Funeral costs drop for first time in 18 years

The average cost of a basic funeral has dropped for the first time in 18 years, but is predicted to rise again in the future, a report has found.

Funeral costs fell 3.1% to an average of £4,056 last year, the Cost of Dying report by insurer SunLife found.

Costs are varied across the UK, and the cheapest type of ceremony - a cremation without a service - rose in price.

Last year, funeral firms were ordered to display clearer price lists for bereaved customers.

At a time when prices in general have been rising at their fastest rate for years, some families have found the cost of funerals difficult to cover.

"Funerals are still relatively expensive, and half of people arranging a funeral in the last year looked for ways to keep funeral costs down - including choosing a cheaper coffin, spending less on flowers and having the wake at home," said Mark Screeton, chief executive of SunLife.

Some were also limited in the kind of commemorations they were able to organise owing to the Covid pandemic. There was a notable increase in digital streaming of funeral services to loved ones unable to attend.

The insurer's review into funeral costs has been running for nearly two decades and this was the first year-on-year fall in the average cost of a funeral that it has recorded.

However, it has predicted a return to year-on-year increases in prices in the next five years.

The cost of professional fees was another driver of falling prices last year. Since September, funeral directors and crematoria operators have been required to display a standardised price list on their premises and their websites.

Under orders from UK competition authorities, the list must include the headline price of a funeral, the cost of individual items that go to make up the funeral, and prices of extra products and services.

The average cost of a funeral varies significantly across the country, ranging from more than £5,000 in London - where prices rose by 2.3% last year - to just over £3,000 in Northern Ireland, which was 5.2% cheaper than the previous year.

The report also recorded a steep increase in the number of direct cremations, when the body is cremated without a service and the ashes are returned to the family.

Some of this was driven by Covid restrictions, but it is also the cheapest type of send-off, at an average cost of £1,647. This rose in cost by 6% last year compared with the previous year.

Funeral directors also reported that celebration of life services were rising in popularity, although Abide With Me remained the most common song or hymn to be played.