Long delays between deaths and funerals

UK funeral directors are warning of long delays between deaths and funerals, thanks to pressure on the system, an article in the Daily Telegraph set out.

Speaking to reporter Antonia Hoyle, Jackie Sewell related how she had faced a month-long wait to get the death certificate she needed in order for the funeral to go ahead. Her father, Kenneth, died at 93 of dementia in Hampshire.

Without the death certificate, the funeral home could not embalm his body, which as to go into cold storage. Jackie described the process of waiting as unfair on both the living and the person who had passed away.

Average time 22 days

In years gone by, the typical wait for a loved one dying to being buried or cremated was between one and two weeks, but the average time is now 22 days. Deborah Smith of the National Association of Funeral Directors, told the Telegraph that in some parts of he UK, the wait is much longer, with some families being forced to wait five weeks or more.

Excessive deaths are being blamed for the pressure on the system. The Office for National Statistics revealed that hundreds more people are dying every week in England and Wales, with excess deaths caused in part by Covid and illnesses that might have gone unchecked or untreated during the pandemic. The recent heatwave also appears to have caused a spike in death rates.

Another issue is staff shortages, which have led to delays in bodies being released by coroners and deaths being registered by the authorities. The 2020 Coronavirus Act allowed the digital transmission of forms and for people to register a death without needed to attend the office in person to pick up a paper copy of the certificate. When the Act expired in March this year, the old system returned, contributing to the delays.

‘Cruel’ system

Ms Smith said she thought it “cruel” that people were being forced to navigate a paper-based appointment system that had been designed more than a century ago, and that delays i8n holding funerals were very distressing for families.

In England and Wales, unless a coroner is involved, appointments should be made within five days to register a death. A doctor’s certificate that states the cause of death is needed.

When Jackie Sewell’s father died, the care home contacted Co-op funeral services, whose representative picked up the paperwork from her father’s GP. However, when the funeral care representative tried to contact the local register offices, she found that the first available appointment was a month later.

Government cuts and pandemic pressure

A spokesperson from Hampshire County Council told the Telegraph that registration services across the country had “experienced unprecedented demand” in the first three months of 2022, which followed on from two years of pressure caused by the pandemic.

An additional factor was the higher number of people wishing to get married, following on from the lifting of Covid restrictions on weddings, the move back to in-person appointments and high levels of staff sickness because of Covid 19.

There is currently a shortage of burial plots in England too, due to the rising population. A study in 2013 found that a quarter of England’s councils expect the cemeteries they manage to be full by 2023. Cemeteries in Manchester and the Lambeth area of London were mentioned in the article as having particularly high demand for plots.

Government budget cuts and staff shortages were blamed.

The PHFIS is intended as a guide for local authorities and hospitals who deal with public health funerals. If you would like to learn more about the PHFIS or require assistance, you can visit our website here.  Alternatively, you can telephone: +44(0) 20 7490 4935 or email: [email protected]

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Conservative MP warns against ‘watered down’ funeral plan industry regulation

The funeral industry must not prey on fear, Conservative MP Lucy Allan told MPs during a recent parliamentary speech.

The Yorkshire Post published an excerpt of the speech by the MP who represents Telford in Shropshire and who sits on the Health and Social Care Committee. Ms Allan drew attention to predatory practices by certain elements of the funeral plan industry, who often target older people who might be worried about the costs of funerals.

She told parliament that the funeral plan industry has grown extensively in recent years, with some 1.6 million people now holding a funeral plan and some 218,000 taking out a new plan last year and more than £4 billion in funds under management held in those plans.

Good providers out there

The industry remains, however, unregulated. Ms Allan said that the Funeral Planning Authority claimed that it provides oversight, but this was still not regulation. It was worth remembering, she added that there were good providers such as Dignity and Co-op Funeralcare and that they would be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority by 29 July.

However, other providers have still not applied to be regulated and others have not been accepted for regulation. Concerns had been raised about where that would leave people who held plans with those providers.

She warned that the industry had a record of using high-pressure sales techniques, such as cold calling and having reps sit in people’s homes until they had signed on the dotted line.

‘Extraordinary’ fee arrangements

There were also extraordinary fee arrangements where 25 percent of the plan could be taken as a commission and the use of intermediaries, such as will writers who then sold funeral plans when all someone wanted was a will.

A lack of transparency about how the money was invested was also a concern and those providing plans often played on people’s fears, telling them that a funeral plan was essential when people could simply save the money themselves and make it clear to their relatives what they wanted to happen when they die.

Ms Allan said she was worried that industry lobbyists were seeking to water down the FCA regulation proposals. If the proposals were watered down, it would become easier for companies to be regulated and that might not give consumers the level of protection needed.

The Public Health Funerals Information Service (PHFIS) is a free resource for those dealing with public health act funerals. Click through to our homepage here: www.Publichealthfunerals.org to find out more about our news, resources and events.

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Newspaper investigation reveals rise in public health funerals

The Mirror newspaper has revealed massive rises in the number of people requiring a public health funeral in 2020, often referred to as a pauper’s funeral.

A public health funeral is a basic, no-frills service that is paid for by the local authority in cases where someone dies in poverty and their next of kin cannot be found or don’t come forward.

The paper’s Freedom of Information investigation compare data from 362 out of 371 councils in Britain and found there were 5,875 public health funerals last year, with the true total likely to be not far off 6,000 – or one in 100 deaths.

Twenty-six percent increase

The figures mark a 26 percent increase on 2019. The increase is thought to be due to several factors – rising funeral costs, the increase in the numbers of people living and dying alone, and poverty.

Among those who ended up having a public health funeral in 2020 were “Baby Ruja”, who died on the same day she was born in Doncaster and whose body was cremated four months later. The oldest people were 101-year-old Frances Oldridge from Southampton and 103-year-old Maximo Andreo in North London.

Christina Martin who works for Wealden Council’s environmental health department in East Sussex organised and attended 11 public health funerals last year, up from four the previous year. She does not think the pandemic is responsible for most of the increase in numbers.

Funding a big issue

While she attended a couple of Covid funerals, she told The Mirror, the overall contributor seemed to be the ageing population and people not having a traditional family set up. Funding was another big issue, as basic funerals can cost as much as £4,000.

The Department for Work and Pensions has means-tested support for some cases, such as the death of a child or if a family claims certain benefits.

Christina explained that public health funeral were needed for bodies that hadn’t been dealt with. Her job was to go in after the police and ambulance services have left and do a more thorough search, looking for any documentation in houses that might help her find relatives. She also looks for valuables so that they can be added to a person’s estate and used to offset the funeral costs.

Council responsibility

Wealden Council was able to reclaim its costs in full from the deceased’s estate in seven out of last year’s 11 cases. Public health funerals are the responsibility of the council where the person dies.

Danny Curran, Finders International’s CEO and founder, said: “Thanks to our experience searching for next of kin when people die intestate, we can find the relatives of almost anyone very quickly.

“Local authorities and NHS trusts can apply to our funeral fund for a subsidy payment that can go towards the cost of public health funerals. These will be cases where there genuinely are no known next of kin (rather than next of kin simply refusing to pay) and Finders will carry out research to confirm this. For more information or to apply for a subsidy, simply contact us at [email protected] or call Freephone 0800 085 8796.”

The Public Health Funerals Information Service (PHFIS) is a free resource for those dealing with Public Health Act Funerals. Click through to our homepage here: www.Publichealthfunerals.org to find out more about our news, resources and events.

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Investigation conducted into Local’s Authorities approach to ‘Pauper’s Funerals’

The Guardian has reported that Councils in England and Wales are waiving their responsibility to provide Public Health act funerals, more commonly known as “pauper’s funerals.”

Quaker Social Action, an anti- poverty charity, stated that families of a low income, are often being turned away because they are not able to afford to pay for the burial or cremation of their loved ones.

Senior Business Manager at Finders International and spokesperson for the Public Health Funeral Information Service, David Lockwood, comments: “The article highlights the need for a unified approach by local authorities on this sensitive matter, at a time when the most vulnerable in our society need help navigating the perfect storm of the pandemic and cuts to council funding which have hit services up and down the country.

The non-statutory guidance issued by the ministry for housing, communities and local government was a good start, but the legislation needs to be updated and reflect the times in which we live.

Funeral poverty is a real issue for so many, the amount of people that have approached our advice line has more than doubled since the pandemic hit, funerals are too expensive, and a solution has to be found. Perhaps we need to revisit the idea of the DWP issuing a standard payment when someone passes away to cover the cost of a simple cremation? This would assist so many and ensure that when a Council has to make arrangements local budgets aren’t adversely affected.”

Read the full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/06/uk-councils-failing-to-provide-paupers-funerals-investigation-reveals

The Public Health Funerals Information Service (PHFIS) is a free resource for those dealing with public health act funerals. Click through to our homepage here: www.Publichealthfunerals.org to find out more about our news, resources and events.

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