Funeral Service Times August 2017 October 2018 | Page 10

10 DISPATCHES
Leaking fluids and body mix
ups revealed in new funeral
report
The new Scottish funeral inspector Natalie McKail revealed the
details in her first annual report
Natalie McKail, the Scottish government’s first ever inspector of
funeral directors, has revealed examples of bad practice discovered
through inspections in her first annual report.
Some incidences in her report include a misidentification of two
deceased people who had the same name and identification checks
which were not “adequately carried out”. This incident was self-
referred to inspectors by an unnamed funeral director after it resulted
in the preparation and coffining of the wrong deceased person. A
second funeral director later realised the error.
McKail also got a notification from a crematorium where a
funeral director had presented a coffin with “leaking bodily fluids”.
This resulted in the crematorium catafalque being contaminated,
impacting on the presentation of a second coffin from an unrelated
funeral which was damaged as a result.
Other incidences include a coffin’s nameplate being written in
marker and a funeral director taking the deceased “into their care”
overnight. Concerns were also raised regarding the care and storage
of deceased during bad weather in early 2018.
McKail was appointed in 2017, following a scandal which saw
numerous Scottish families denied access to their infant’s remains.
She said in the report: “I will be participating in both the Treasury
and Competition Market Authority (CMA) reviews which have
been recently announced, and like most people in the sector have
been reviewing the scope and impact of this work to determine
the interface with the existing programme of activity. I welcome
these announcements and look forward to assisting colleagues
where possible to create a fair and customer focussed operating
environment for many years to come.”
Average mourner borrows
£1,700 to pay for loved one’s
funeral costs
Funeral debt in the UK is at £131m with people taking on an average
of £1,744 of debt to pay for a funeral, an all time high
The average mourner in the UK borrows £1,700 to pay for a loved
one’s funeral costs, new research has suggested.
The National Funeral Cost Index study by Royal London found
that funeral debt in the UK is at £131m with people taking on an
average of £1,744 of debt to pay for a funeral, an all time high. On
average a UK funeral costs £3,757, a six percent increase over the
last five years, with the most expensive burial costing £12,000 at
London’s Kensal Green cemetery.
In London, the average funeral cost has risen to £4,838, making it
the most expensive place to die in the UK, the cheapest was found
SEPTEMBER 2018
UK’s third modern day
barrow built in Shropshire
Barrows were traditionally used as secular venues for funerals,
education and performance. The Shropshire development is the
third to be built in roughly 5,000 years
The Soulton Long Barrow, situated on farmland at Soulton Hall
has been handcrafted by the team behind the UK’s reintroduction of
an ancient way of celebrating life and cherishing a life ritual.
Sacred Stones and Tim Ashton (whose family farms at Soulton
Hall) have worked together on the project for three years.
Collaboratively, they created a handcrafted venue to provide
the local community with a secular venue for commemoration,
education and performance. The barrow provides secure spaces,
called niches, for cremation urns.
Toby Angel, managing director of Sacred Stones, said: “Working
with academics from Cambridge University we understand barrows
were an integral part of community life. They would have been a
theatre for union, creation and of course a sacred space to venerate
the dead. We echo the community value our early ancestors
cherished by providing these unique venues.
“The build is exciting. People came, saw and decided it was
for them, expressing the desire to play a part in the construction
of their niches (the space which holds the cremation urns). The
support has been humbling, some 20 to 25 percent of niches in the
first chamber have already been chosen.”
The Long Barrow will be built in three phases. The first of which,
the principal chamber, has already been completed. Construction
has been done by hand using natural limestone and lime mortar.
to be Northern Ireland, where
the average Belfast funeral costs
£2,950.
One in 10 people took on debt
to pay for a loved one’s funeral
according to the research. Of
those who struggled with funeral
costs, three in 10 borrowed money from friends and family and one
in five took on debt. One in 10 people continue to sell possessions
to give their loved ones a decent send-off.
Royal London’s funeral cost expert, Louise Eaton-Terry, said:
“More support needs to be offered to families struggling to pay for
funeral costs, and as a result being forced into debt. The funeral
payment is seriously lacking, and it’s shocking that the government
do not consider funeral director’s fees and a coffin to be a
'necessary' cost.”
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