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Survey of the UK funeral trade
Survey of the UK funeral trade
[The information reproduced here, from the 3rd edition of The New Natural
Death Handbook, is now out of date and those intereested should consult
the 4th edition, called simply The Natural Death Handbook.]
The Natural Death Handbook acts as a funeral watchdog on behalf of the
consumer, like a sort of 'Which?' report but devoted solely to the theme of
death and dying. The following are the main conclusions from its survey for
the year 2000 edition.
Woodland burial grounds
A nature reserve or woodland burial ground is one where the body is returned to nature in beautiful surroundings, in a biodegradable coffin, with a tree planted over the grave. Woodland burials are the fastest growing environmental movement in the UK. The first woodland burial ground opened in Carlisle in 1993. In January 1996, there were 17 such grounds known to the Natural Death Centre; by July, there were 33; by January 1997 there were 52; by May 2000 the total was 100. The Natural Death Centre forecasts that 10 per cent of all funerals will be in woodland burial grounds by the year 2010.
'52 more woodland burial sites are about to open including two Church of England sites'
Of the woodland burial grounds detailed in The New Natural Death Handbook, 64 are run by councils, 35 are run as businesses by farmers or private individuals, and one is run as a non-profit concern asking for donations to a wildlife trust. At least 52 more sites are about to open, or are at various planning stages (including two Church of England sites). The cost of a grave, including the digging and usually a tree, ranges from £165.50 at Tavistock in Devon to £1,184 at the Brimscombe woodland burial ground in Stroud. The average cost is £517. The average cost for the council-run sites is £492 (with most charging considerably more for non-residents); for the sites run as businesses the average cost is £573.
Cardboard coffins
When the Natural Death Centre was launched in 1991, it called for cardboard coffins to be made available in the UK. Nowadays there are seven different models to choose from. The first edition of The Natural Death Handbook in 1993 could identify only a handful of crematoria and cemeteries that would accept cardboard coffins. But by 1994, Jon Luby of The Federation of British Cremation Authorities was writing that 'my advice would be to accept such a coffin if requested'. Now almost every crematorium accepts them; and most funeral directors are willing to obtain a cardboard coffin on behalf of a client, although they will tend to charge a high price. Cardboard coffins are now available to the public direct from the wholesalers from £53 including overnight delivery. A regular coffin can be almost as cheap. Indeed the funeral directors Roger Gillman of J.E. Gillman & Sons (020 86721557) will sell to a member of the public organising a funeral for themselves a chipboard-based lightly veneered coffin, 'without handles or fancy lining, just cremfilm, using wood from managed sustained-yield forests,' for a mere £45. Delivery free within five miles of their premises in London SW17.
Coffins from funeral directors
The New Natural Death Handbook circulated a questionnaire to 2,400 funeral directors for its year 2000 edition. Of the 132 (excluding branches of the same firm) who deigned to reply - mostly the small independent firms - all except two are prepared to sell just a coffin to a member of the public, without other services, at prices ranging from £50 to £700 for the cheapest fully-fitted coffin. The resultant average price for a coffin is £137 (11 neglected to give a definitive answer). This is a big improvement since the Centre's 1993 survey, which found a mere 45 funeral directors (53 per cent of all respondents) willing to sell just coffins.
The cost of a basic funeral
'A basic funeral now costs from £318.50 to £890, with an average cost of £585'
The New Natural Death Handbook survey found that a basic funeral now costs from £318.50 to £890, with an average of £585 - an increase of 10.4 per cent on the £530 figure for 1996. (Funeral directors are often not very keen to tell the public about their low end funerals. As a member of the public, you may have to use the magic words 'basic funeral as specified in your funeral code' to be told this low, low price. There will be no frills - no embalming and just a hearse without a following limousine.) To this £585, which represents the funeral director's charges, need to be added the so-called 'disbursements' paid out on behalf of the client by the funeral director: the cremation fee (averaging £223), doctors' fees (£82) and minister's fee (normally £68), an average extra total for disbursements of £373 (assuming it is a cremation; burial in a Church of England churchyard, for instance, costs £119). Thus the average complete cost for a basic funeral is currently £958.
Pre-paid funeral plans
Of the pre-paid funeral plans, The New Natural Death Handbook concluded that possibly the least objectionable of the mass market plans is Golden Charter (tel 0800 833800), since it is specifically designed for the small, independent funeral directors and their association SAIF, the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (some of whom are also members of the larger National Association of Funeral Directors). It claims to have over 2,000 participating funeral directors. Golden Charter's cheapest Standard Way plan costs £1,110, which allows £435 towards the costs of disbursements (a sum which increases with the Retail Price Index). If disbursements cost more than this at the time of the plan's purchase, the extra sum can be paid then to ensure full future cover. The Woodland Trust is paid to plant a tree for each plan bought.
Crematoria
One off-putting aspect of crematoria is the sense of being led along a factory conveyor belt: In - 30 minutes - Out - Next. Of the 114 respondents to The New Natural Death Handbook' survey of 242 crematoria nationwide, 26 excellent crematoria break the 30-minute norm and allow 45-minute services; two superb crematoria, the one in Aberystwyth and the other in Cinderford (Gloucestershire) allow 60 minutes; one outstanding crematorium in Stafford has no time limit as such; and most of the other crematoria allow the purchase of extra time at a reduced price.
'SCI, the American-owned funerals company, owns 21 of the 242 crematoria in the UK'
Most crematoria are run by local authorities and have very reasonable fees, although these fees are being sharply increased in many places to finance the cost of new facilities that meet stringent EC anti-pollution requirements. These will cost the average crematorium at least half a million pounds; as a result, some of the local authority operations are beginning to sell out to the larger private firms. For instance, SCI, the American-owned funerals company, already owns 21 (8.7 per cent) of the 242 crematoria in the UK, despite the undesirability of a firm that sells funerals in an area also controlling its crematoria.
At present, the cheapest crematorium that meets our other criteria for inclusion is the City of Belfast Crematorium (£95.40 for 30 minutes). The most expensive is the City of York crematorium (£320 for 30 minutes). The average price for a cremation is £225, as against £169 in 1997 (an increase of 33 per cent).
Our main interest was to find out how helpful crematoria are to people organising a funeral without using a funeral director. Of the 114 crematoria which replied, every one is prepared to deal directly with a family, with no funeral director involvement - whereas in 1993, 8 per cent said they would deal only with funeral directors. An oppressive 14 per cent still say they will not accept a home-made coffin, even if it meets all the anti-pollution requirements and if everything is done 'in a dignified manner without disturbance to other mourners or to staff' - however this is an improvement on the figure of 19 per cent in 1993. Cardboard coffins are now accepted by 96 per cent of all UK crematoria - as against a mere 15 per cent in 1993. 59 per cent of the crematoria will accept wicker coffins; 37 per cent will accept body bags (if supported on a piece of wood and covered with a drape); 34 per cent will accept a body in a shroud (if the shroud is kept rigid with a piece of wood).
Cemeteries
The New Natural Death Handbook wrote to over 800 cemeteries, and of the 171 respondents (some administering several cemeteries) deemed worthy for inclusion in the book's Good Funeral Guide section, all will accept burial by the family without involving funeral directors. 75 per cent will accept a suitable home-made wooden coffin. 84 per cent will accept one of the manufactured cardboard coffins. 61 per cent will accept wicker coffins. 35 per cent will accept body bags, if supported on a plank and covered with a drape. 40 per cent will accept kaftans or shrouds (are the other 60 per cent discriminating against those religious belief systems that require shrouds?) . One cemetery writes: 'The majority of Muslims are buried in coffins or caskets, but there are a couple of Muslim communities who bury their dead in kaftans and then the casket or boards are placed over the top'.
'Are the 60 per cent discriminating against those whose religious beliefs require shrouds?'
Just as house prices vary by region, so too do the rights to a burial plot. The New Natural Death Handbook' survey found that, including the cost of digging the grave, the prices range from £118 at Lon Newydd Cemetery in Anglesey to £3,025 at Highgate Cemetery. The average price for the cheapest individual plot in a cemetery is £524 (incl. digging) as against £504 in 1997 (a four per cent increase). Some also charge non-residents either extra, double or even treble the normal price.
The Natural Death Centre's conclusion is that the independent sector within the funeral trade is gradually improving - becoming not only greener, but also more open about its pricing, more willing to provide an à la carte service instead of bland packages and more willing to support families organising part of the funeral for themselves.
The Natural Death Handbook (4th edition) is available from the Natural
Death Centre, 6 Blackstock Mews, Blackstock Road, London N4 2BT, for £14.99
incl. p&p by post or for £15.50 first class by online order via www.naturaldeath.org.uk.
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