How Much Does A Funeral Cost

[SimonI]

On 28/10/2019 at 20:38, sheff utd said:

What's the approx cost of a cremation does anyone know

I am a funeral director so hopefully I may be able to help. There are some funeral directors out there who genuinely care about the families they serve and charge people fairly, sadly they are still in a small minority.

 

To answer the original question a simple unattended cremation should (and can) cost around £1,200 - but on average people pay just over £1,700. 

 

A simple attended cremation funeral at a Sheffield Crematorium should (and can) cost around £2000 to £2,500. I am dealing with a funeral service at Sheffield at the moment and the total cost including all third party fees etc is £2,140.  The average cost for a funeral arrangement such as this is around £3,700.

 

It is correct that the Government are looking into the cost of funerals because of some traditional firms routinely overcharging families. This has gone on for far too long and is a national scandal. There are a few ethical funeral directors out there charging a fair price, but unfortunately there are far more who must have no conscience whatsoever if they can sleep at night.

Edited October 30, 2019 by nikki-red
Removed unnecessary bold

[Sidonica]

57 minutes ago, SimonI said:

 

 

 

 

A simple attended cremation funeral at a Sheffield Crematorium should (and can) cost around £2000 to £2,500. I am dealing with a funeral service at Sheffield at the moment and the total cost including all third party fees etc is £2,140.  The average cost for a funeral arrangement such as this is around £3,700.

 

 

Can I have a cremation without a  coffin, no service and how much would it cost?

Edited October 30, 2019 by nikki-red

[SimonI]

39 minutes ago, Sidonica said:

Can I have a cremation without a  coffin, no service and how much would it cost?

Although it is perfectly legal to be cremated without a coffin, in practice it would be very difficult to find a crematorium which would agree to it. In fact the best price possible may be a little higher if no coffin is used (crazy I know), so the best value would be to use a budget coffin in order to get the most competitive crematorium fee. 

 

If you wanted to arrange and pay for the cremation in advance the cost would vary between £1,475 and about £2,000 depending on the company. 

 

At today's prices (ie not paid in advance) a fair price would be £1,200 to £1,500 depending on where someone passes away.  In this case though the cost will be likely to increase slightly with inflation as the years pass by, which is why some people think funeral plans are good value.

Edited October 30, 2019 by nikki-red

[Flanker7]

What's the difference between a pre-paid funeral and an off the shelf arrangement after "shuffling off this mortal coil".

[*_ash_*]

Does anyone who criticizes the cost, know the costs involved in the business?

 

Staff, vehicles, flower arrangements, facilities to house dead bodies safely, rents, building costs, cremation costs?

 

-

 

If there is to be a cheap option, it would be a state cheap funeral, and politicians would never agree to it, as oppositions would claim 'back to Victorian values!'

 

Personally, I'd prefer my local church to do a service if anyone showed any interest, and if people come, then fine, donate to the church to run it. Then just cremate me in the cheapest possible way.

[SimonI]

13 hours ago, Flanker7 said:

What's the difference between a pre-paid funeral and an off the shelf arrangement after "shuffling off this mortal coil".

A prepaid funeral will generally be slightly more expensive than the current up-to-date cost for the exact same arrangement. The idea is that if the funeral plan will not be implemented for for quite some years hopefully, by then the current price will be a lot higher (due to inflation) than the price paid when the plan was  originally purchased.

 

Funeral plans can be a standard off-the-shelf funeral arrangement, or a funeral director can put together a bespoke plan for someone's precise specific requirements.

[vwkittie]

I actually didn't think our funeral bill was out of the way, and the firm we went with were so, so good with us. My partner's dad had next to no assets and no will or anything, and we had no savings, so paying was a struggle but they were totally understanding of this and never once pressured us to pay up whilst we were sorting out the financial side of things, which wasn't at all easy (or quick!).

 

We used TW Birks at Deepcar if anyone needs a recommendation.

[Baron99]

23 hours ago, SimonI said:

I am a funeral director so hopefully I may be able to help. There are some funeral directors out there who genuinely care about the families they serve and charge people fairly, sadly they are still in a small minority.

 

To answer the original question a simple unattended cremation should (and can) cost around £1,200 - but on average people pay just over £1,700. 

 

A simple attended cremation funeral at a Sheffield Crematorium should (and can) cost around £2000 to £2,500. I am dealing with a funeral service at Sheffield at the moment and the total cost including all third party fees etc is £2,140.  The average cost for a funeral arrangement such as this is around £3,700.

 

It is correct that the Government are looking into the cost of funerals because of some traditional firms routinely overcharging families. This has gone on for far too long and is a national scandal. There are a few ethical funeral directors out there charging a fair price, but unfortunately there are far more who must have no conscience whatsoever if they can sleep at night.

Surely the less unscrupulous funeral directors are missing a trick here then? 

 

Why not put price lists up outside your premises advertising the basic costs of a funeral / cremation?  Not everyone is on the internet. 

 

After all, at the end of the day, your just tradesmen providing a service. 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Baron99

[SimonI]

Very true. Transparency regarding pricing is becoming more common and the shopfront is a good place to promote fair charging.

[Baron99]

The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) have been investigating the costs of funerals since 2018 & have now given funeral firms until 16th September to publish their charges clearly & in a standard format. 

 

Under these new rules, funeral directors must publish a price list on their premises & their websites in a standardised form.  This must include the headline price of a standard funeral, showing what is included & how much each element costs.  It must also set out clearly the costs of any items that will be charged as extras.  Crematorium operators must also clearly set out their charges as well. 

 

The CMA will be monitoring the new rules & prices charged, (brought in so people can undertake price comparisons) & funeral firms are warned that the rules are to be enforced by law, so failure to comply with any aspects of the new rules will result in firms being taken to court.