London funeral costs highest in UK, report finds

The average cost of an attended funeral in London is the most expensive compared with anywhere else in the UK, according to a report.

Financial services company SunLife found that the average funeral cost in 2024 was £4,285. In London, it was £5,449 – a 5.4% increase from the year before and 58% higher than in the least expensive region, Northern Ireland.

Concerns have been raised about funeral poverty, with charity Quaker Social Action saying the financial stress can “rob people of their ability to grieve”.

The government offers some people a subsidy; on certain government benefits a Funeral Expenses Payment can help cover some of the costs.

Of those who receive a Funeral Expenses Payment, the subsidy covers approximately 46% of the total funeral costs, on average, the SunLife report found.

There are also public health funerals, which are a basic funeral service arranged and paid for by the local authority.

Lindesay Mace, who leads on strategic work to tackle funeral poverty for Quaker Social Action, said: “We hear so often from people that they don’t have the mental space to grieve because all they can do is think about how they’re going to pay the costs.

“Faced with these costs that they can’t afford people sometimes use their rent money to pay a funeral deposit or they will cut back on food or not pay essential bills just trying to scrape that money together.”

However, Clare Montagu, chief executive for Poppy’s Funerals, told BBC London there are ways to reduce costs to make a funeral meaningful.

“You could have a simple cardboard coffin and you can make it really personal by decorating it yourself, putting images or words or symbols that are meaningful to you and to the person who’s died,” she said.

“You can bring your own flowers, you don’t need to pay for a florist, you can run the ceremony yourself, you don’t need to have a religious minister or a celebrant.”

Jordan Flynn, from SunLife, said the capital had the fewest people making financial provision for their own funerals, and the highest number of funeral organisers reporting significant financial concern as a result of covering funeral costs.

He advised trying to obtain quotes from a few different funeral directors and asking them how to bring the cost down.

The report also found a simple attended cremation with a service was the most popular type of funeral.

This is a less expensive option, and direct cremations – an unattended funeral – are cheaper, costing on average £1,597.

Dan Garrett, from funeral services provider Dignity, said the number of direct cremations had increased over the last five years from about 2% of all funerals in 2019 to about 20% of the funeral market in the last year.

“It’s a significantly more affordable product and 89% of families who have a direct cremation then organise a separate celebration of life,” he added.

According to SunLife, the overall cost of dying in 2024 reached its highest level at an average price of £9,797, including the funeral, professional fees and send-off costs.

Ms Mace said government support and wages had not kept up with funeral inflation and many funeral costs had “outstripped general inflation in the last 20 years”.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said: “Losing a loved one is devastating and we understand the financial impacts it can have on families.

“The DWP Funeral Expenses Payment scheme makes a contribution towards the cost of a funeral arranged by someone who is in receipt of certain income-related benefits. It also offers an additional £1,000 to meet other funeral expenses.”