Support Bill to help prevent funeral poverty ON December 9, 2014, a Funeral Poverty Bill was presented to Parliament to take an effective way of ensuring people do not experience poverty as the result of the loss of a loved one.

As a local organisation which works very closely with bereaved families across the county, we fully support this Bill and hope that as many local people contact both their current MPs and election candidates to support this bill so that it becomes law and that local families are not driven into debt when arranging a love one’s funeral.

While the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does give grants towards the cost of a funeral, for many people this no longer covers the full cost of a funeral and families are left having to search for money – more often when someone younger dies or when an older person passes away leaving no funding for funeral care.

Everyone has the right to have a decent send-off, but funerals are becoming less and less affordable with each passing year.

There needs to be some regulation of the funeral business whereas affordable funerals are available to all people and that people on low incomes are treated with the same respect and dignity as those with money.

At that moment, families can apply for a payment to help with the cost of paying for a service but the process takes several weeks and, by the time most people find out if they qualify for help, they have already committed to costs.

The new Bill would introduce a new check to let people know whether they are eligible for funeral payments quickly by requiring funeral directors to provide a ‘simple funeral’ option to help customers understand what they can expect to pay for a standard service.

In addition, the Bill calls for a major review of funeral affordability to look at ways the rising cost of funerals can be brought under control.

While some of the local independent funeral directors have signed up to a fair price charter for funerals – some people have to find several thousand pounds to pay for the simplest of options and this needs to end.

With the ageing population, the increasing number of younger deaths, rising funeral costs and the squeeze on incomes, this problem is set to get a lot worse. The Government needs to tackle funeral poverty before it becomes a national scandal.

Please contact your local MPs now and help make a difference and make funeral pricing fairer and affordable.