Growing numbers of people are having to be buried or cremated by councils because they have no one to organise or pay for their funeral.

With the average cost of a basic funeral in Kent now almost £5,000, many are turning to “direct cremations” to relieve the burden on their bereaved. Senior reporter Lauren Abbott looks at the role no-frills funerals are playing amid a “cost of dying” crisis.

No songs or flowers, no family cars or orders of service, little opportunity for a headstone at a burial and very often no mourners at all.

Once called a “pauper’s funeral” — having been paid for under poor laws for those who died in the workhouse — public health funerals step in today when either a lack of family and friends, funds, or sometimes both, mean a person is without anyone to take care of their final arrangements.

But the number of these simple-yet-dignified ceremonies, the majority of which are arranged by councils, appear to be on the rise as the costs attached to shuffling from this mortal coil increase.

The Local Government Association estimates that numbers in England have leapt by 500 over the course of the last financial year alone, with the increased cost of living, people dying with no income or assets or family to take responsibility among the root causes.

So what’s the situation in Kent?

A ‘final safety net’ for local residents

Fifteen years ago Dover District Council took care of just two funerals for local residents.

Fast forward to the last five years and annual numbers are more regularly in double figures with 15 deceased people having had their funeral organised by the council in the last financial year.

Costs are unsurprisingly rising too with just £2,000 spent in 2011, £13,528 meeting the cost of funerals in 2022 but £23,218 taken from council budgets last year.

Where possible, councils will attempt to recover what has been spent from the deceased person’s estate - but only around 55% of local authorities in England, says the LGA, claim to be able to recoup the money.

Canterbury City Council organised 15 funerals between April 2022 and March 2023, compared with 10 the year before that, costing almost £30,000.

But only £17,874 of that has so far been returned to the authority, which uses Herne Bay Crematorium unless there’s a cultural need for burial - for what it describes as ‘basic funerals conducted with care and dignity throughout’.

In the last financial year the council has overseen six funerals - spending more than £10,000 - having so far only recovered £5,500.

Cllr Chris Cornell (Lab) says the provision of these funerals is a role council staff take extremely seriously, providing an important “final safety net” for local residents should they need it.

The dad-of-three added: “Most people, I think, will be surprised to find that councils still do have a role here.

“It’s lovely for the council to be able to provide that final support and people can have confidence that someone’s final journey is being carried out with respect.”

In neighbouring Swale just three funerals were organised by the council in the 2019/20 financial year - the cost of each one eventually met via proceeds from estates of the deceased.

But the following year the number rose to seven and last year to eight - with funds so far recovered in only half of all cases.

Further down the coast, Thanet council oversaw 14 public health funerals for people who passed away in 2021, rising to 26 for people who died in 2022 and last year the number was 22 according to figures.

Only one “welfare funeral” was organised by Sevenoaks council in 2019 - rising to two in 2020.

But since the pandemic numbers here too have risen slightly, with six funerals overseen by the authority last year for people who died in the district but without anyone to make the arrangements - or pay for them.

Elsewhere, in Medway the council oversaw 14 funerals in 2022, 17 last year and 20, so far, this year.

Up the road in Gravesham, in the two financial years prior to the pandemic the north Kent authority took care of just two funerals over the course of 24 months.

Last year the number had risen to 13.

On its website, Gravesham council explains the majority of its cases are referred from the Coroners’ office and residential care homes when no suitable alternative arrangements can be identified.

In these cases, council staff will step in to register the death, instruct a funeral director, provide a coffin, transport the deceased to Northfleet Cemetary or Thames View Crematorium by hearse and find a celebrant or minister of religion to carry out a ‘simple service’.

Any specific wishes over and above that, it makes clear, must be paid for through the deceased’s estate or by their next of kin.

It adds: “We aim to ensure all public health funerals are carried out in a dignified and respectful manner. Should there be any family or friends of the deceased they are permitted to attend the funeral service should they wish to.

“Any costs associated with specific instructions must be met through the deceased's estate or by family members or friends.

“As we are responsible and accountable for public health funeral costs, it is paramount the costs of these arrangements are kept to a minimum.”

The ‘cost of dying’

The average price of a simple funeral in Kent - before extras such as flowers, the cost of a wake or additional car hire for family - stands currently at £4,643, calculates insurers SunLife in its annual Cost Of Dying Report 2024.

It’s a regional increase of 8% in just one year.

While the total ‘cost of dying’ including burial or cremation fees, payments to funeral directors, funeral limousines, the charges for paperwork, a celebrant, flowers, order of service sheets, a venue for the wake and estate administration fees has now reached more than £9,500 says the study.

In a growing number of cases, grieving families are having to sell belongings, dip into savings or borrow money from friends to pay for a loved one’s funeral because the costs attached to dying are now reaching record levels, adds the research.

Mark Screeton, CEO at SunLife explained: “While there is some government support available for funeral costs, not everyone is eligible.

“And of those who do receive this, the subsidy covers just 48% of the total funeral cost on average.

“For those unable to find the rest of the money needed, a public health funeral may be their only option.”

Co-op Funeralcare, which operates branches across Kent estimates that just one in 10 adults currently has a funeral plan that allows people to pay and plan for their funeral in advance, while more than 50% of adults have never discussed their wishes with friends or family.

Revd Charlie Lloyd-Evans at St Peter & St Paul's in Swanscombe has been involved in the occasional public health funeral where the deceased may have had strong connections with the church and she’s been able to provide her services free of charge.

But Revd Lloyd-Evans says she is also noticing an increasing number of bereaved families in the parish turning to government-funded Funeral Expenses Payments - available through the DWP - that can act as a loan until the deceased person’s estate is administered.

How much people receive will depend on their circumstances and is usually recouped from any inheritance from their loved one’s estate.

But unlike relying on a public health funeral, which having been funded by the council is limited in its scope, the government money enables families struggling financially to help cover costs and have greater control of arrangements.

For example, it can cover burial fees for a particular plot and travel to arrange or go to the funeral; while there is also up to £1,000 for any other funeral expenses, such as funeral director’s fees, flowers or the coffin itself.

Revd Lloyd Evans added: “I am finding that I am working with more and more families who are having to access that to help with funeral costs.

“You want to do the best you can for them (the deceased). It’s a really hard thing.

“People want to have that sense of honouring the person they have lost.”

Direct cremations

Instances of direct cremations, which aren’t ever attended by mourners and happen without any service beforehand, are also on the rise, notes Revd Lloyd Evans.

Direct burials happen in a similar way - with a person’s body taken straight to the cemetery and laid-to-rest alone.

According to SunLife’s report this choice remains the most affordable for people and costs as little as £1,400, when compared with the many thousands of pounds needed to pay for a full funeral, with the person’s ashes given to their next of kin once cremation is complete.

Often chosen and pre-paid by someone before they die, Revd Lloyd-Evans believes it can be in an effort to shield family left behind from the financial responsibility.

But often in these cases, she explains, bereaved families are shocked to discover their loved one made such a stark choice before they died, which then must be respected despite the fact that those left grieving often wish to be more involved in their loved one’s final send-off.

Society’s reluctance to talk about death can sometimes be to blame, she suggests, with the elderly in particular known to sometimes make these basic arrangements in private in trying to avoid being a perceived burden to their family.

“They think they are doing them a favour” she explains.