Funeral Service Times August 2017 March 2019 | страница 5

DISPATCHES
Over 50s prefer
funeral plans
from local
directors, survey
shows
Paul Allcock,
SAIF public relations office and
past SAIF president
In this column, Paul looks at the rising costs
that are out of the hands of the funerary
trade
In February the fee for a death certificate from the
registrar significantly increased from £4 to £11. This
increase almost trebles the cost of a death certificate
and in these times of austerity, I think this is highly
inappropriate. Most families tend to require around half
a dozen certificates for the purposes of administering
bank accounts, life insurances, shareholdings etcetera
and it's not unusual for people to request 10 or more
copies. So overnight, bereaved families are going to find
themselves paying the best part of a hundred pounds
for a typical set of death certificates.
This may seem small fry in relation to the overall cost
of a funeral but it comes at a time when independent
funeral directors, by and large, have held their fees or
applied only inflationary rises for a number of years.
Meanwhile, public authorities, whether it's cremation
and burial fees - and now death certification fees -
seem to think it's okay to exploit people at their most
vulnerable with double-digit price increases.
It seems the cost of funerals will continue to rise,
despite restraint on prices from the funeral profession.
We currently have the ongoing enquiry into funeral
services by the CMA and both SAIF and myself in
responses to their interim report have made them
well aware of the significant increases in the cost of
local authority services. How far will this be allowed to
go? And at what point will they be creating sufficient
income?
Local authorities are evidently having to increase
income streams from their local services due to
decreasing support from central government. I
sympathise with this, but at what point will government
departments both nationally and locally finally realise
that they need to look no further than their own
doorstep to see one of, if not the leading reason for the
excessive price increases of funerals?
Perhaps there will even be a realisation amongst
some groups that funeral directors aren’t so bad after all.
www.funeralservicetimes.co.uk
Just 11% of respondents said they would buy a pre-paid funeral
plan directly from a national plan provider
A survey commissioned by Ecclesiastical Planning Services
has revealed that people are most likely to choose a local
funeral director when planning their funeral in advance.
Some 893 men and women aged 50 and above answered
the survey and respondents who did not already have a funeral
plan in place were asked where they would be most likely to
purchase a pre-paid funeral plan from in the future. Of those
who were interested in purchasing a funeral plan and had a
preference as to how they would do so (348) 46% said they
would choose their local funeral directing firm. This compares
to 42% of respondents whose preference was to purchase
through their local branch of a national funeral directing chain.
Just 11% of over 50s said they would purchase a pre-paid
funeral plan directly from a national plan provider, for example
over the internet or telephone. Some 1% of respondents
revealed they would purchase their funeral plan through ‘other’
avenues.
Emma Simpson, marketing manager at Ecclesiastical Planning
Services, said: “Funeral pre-planning gives people the freedom
to shop around and consider all of the available options at their
leisure, ensuring they end up with the right plan for their needs
and budget.
“The results of this research show that a small number of
people, who perhaps already have a clear idea of what they
would like for their funeral service, would be happy to put
their funeral plans in place without the assistance of a funeral
director. Therefore, for some people, an online or telephone
purchase may be preferable.”
MARCH 2019
5