The average cost of a UK funeral is £4,141*. While the average cost of a burial is £5,077, a cremation is £3,795, a direct cremation is £1,498 and a direct burial is £1,657. Our guide will steer you through the costs to consider and ways to budget.
*Source: SunLife Cost of Dying 2024 report.
Planning a funeral is something most of us are fortunate to do only a couple of times in our life. Understanding the five different elements that contribute to the overall cost of a funeral will help you plan a celebration of the life of your loved one in line with your budget.
These cover everything from care for the deceased to services on the day (such as a hearse, limousines and pall bearers) to managing cremated remains.
These can range from around £500 to £2,000+, depending upon the model and fixtures that you choose.
Personal touches that you may choose for any full service funerals such as a horse drawn hearse, musicians, order of service, floral tributes, video streaming, funeral reception hire, catering, headstones – incur additional fees
These are outside the control of the funeral director and include a doctor signing a cremation form, someone to officiate, as well as the crematorium, church or cemetery.
The average cost of a basic funeral in the UK last year was £4,141 (up 4.7% on last year), and the average ‘cost of dying’ (total cost of a funeral and optional extras, including a wake or party) had risen to £9,658 (up 5%), according to Sun Life’s ‘The Cost of Dying 2024’ report.
To help you manage the costs of your funeral or of that of your loved one, we have created packages of commonly combined service elements with clear prices, with options to suit all tastes and budgets.
Alternatively, you might choose a bespoke service – just ask us for a no-obligation quote.
We follow the Competition and Markets Authority requiring all funeral directors and crematorium operators to make prices clear.
Funeral expenses are considered the responsibility of the deceased and are usually dealt with in a person’s will. Where there is no will, legal advice should be sought.
As funeral expenses are permitted to be paid from a deceased person’s estate before the grant of probate – provided there are sufficient liquid funds – the deceased’s bank can be invoiced directly to settle the account.
However, the person signing the papers at the funeral directors’ enters into a formal contract and takes responsibility for settling the account, so it is important to understand this.
Make sure that you tell your funeral director how the account is to be settled before signing. This is usually a member of the family, if they are the executor, or a solicitor acting as executor.
Some families opt for direct burials or direct cremations, but as nobody attends these services, it is important to have a family discussion to consider other ways to hold a memorial gathering that is within your budget.
Ways to reduce costs include:
There are several ways to pay for a funeral:
If the deceased left insufficient funds, there is no family, or no-one able to be willing to pay for a funeral, then a basic attended service is paid for by the local authority where the death occurred in the community, or by the hospital trust if the death was in hospital.
Financial Aid
Help with the costs of a funeral may be available, depending on your circumstances.
Professional, friendly, respectful, caring – everything you would want a funeral directors to be. They coped brilliantly with the challenges of ice and snow, and nothing was too much trouble. So glad we chose them!
Adie Y
The funeral industry is self-regulated through codes of practice established by the National Association of Funeral Directors and the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors. Welham Jones is a fully registered member of both.
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