Funeral Costs Need to be Reduced

A Lucrative Business

Funerals are a very important part of everyone's life. But very few people know that the funeral industry is a unregulated industry-from how prices are set all the way to how they treat the remains of our loved ones.

Yet, funerals rank among the most expensive expenditures that many families will ever make. In the UK according to many independent researchers and the OFT the cost of funerals has always increased above the rate of inflation.

Today a traditional funeral, including a casket and memorial, costs between £6000 and £10,000.

"Options" like flowers, obituary announcements, acknowledgment cards or limousines can add thousands of pounds to the overall cost. Many funerals run well over £15,000.

Of course all this stems from the lack of regulation and competition in the industry is that it can attract a lot of unscrupulous individuals that intent on defrauding vulnearable individuals, often in their weakest moments.

Our own research reveals that not much has changed since 2002 when the magazine Which? sent undercover researchers to 25 funeral directors around the UK. The hypothetical case the researchers used was to arrange a cremation for a terminally ill relative.

In line with the industry codes of practice of 2001, Which? expected funeral directors to provide clear information about price and a written estimate of costs; offer a choice of services, give good advice, for example on how to register a death; and to behave in a professional and dignified manner. In sharp contrast dramatic variations in price and quality of service were revealed, including:

Estimates of the funeral directors' own costs for a comparable service and coffin ranged from £660 from an independent in Sheffield to £1,415 from a branch of Dignity in Scotland. The average price quoted was £1,040
10 out of the 25 didn't mention any costs until the researcher asked, at the end of the meeting. An OFT investigation in 2001 found that a staggering 28% of people had no idea of costs until after the funeral had taken place.
14 of the funeral directors failed to give an adequate choice of coffins (coffin price can range from £85 to over £2,500), and 7 didn't offer a choice at all. On the plus side, none of the funeral directors tried to sell the researcher an expensive, inappropriate coffin.
12 out of the 25 gave insufficient advice and information about what was involved in arranging a funeral.
16 funeral directors failed to give researchers sufficient choices about the type of funeral they wanted
The attitude of most of the funeral directors was professional, tactful and sensitive, but some were rude, unhelpful and abrupt. Several made tactless or insensitive remarks, one adviser said 'the gentleman hasn't died yet… I can't even say he's cold.'

Without Controls

Despite numerous scandals in the UK over the past decade involving mistreatment of the remains of loved ones, little has been done to strengthen government oversight of funeral directors and cemeteries and to set minimum standards of operation.

Many funeral companies in the UK exploit the lack of effective regulation to make large amounts of money, when people are at their most vulnerable. This attracts many foreign owned funeral corporations into the UK which often behave in an unethical manner. In the UK it is easier to make large profits because there are minimal rules to protect consumers- unlike in many other European countries.

Many other industries that provide less sensitive services to the public such as travel, property, health, energy, as well as foods are highly regulated by the UK government- yet the funeral industry which deals with a highly sensitive subject is not.

As a result of this lack of regulation we see, for example, that cemeteries in the UK are often in a very poor and dilapidated state compared to those in the other modern European countries such as France, Germany and Italy. Why can we not have proper standards as in other modern European countries?

Government Intervention is a Must

Some disturbing facts the OFT uncovered the last time it looked at this industry:

Pricing: The funeral trade argues that clients generally do not want to talk about prices, and to an extent this was confirmed by the consumer survey. But around one third (34 per cent) considered cost to be an important issue. In a market economy, an argument that the industry is protecting clients by not being open about costs lacks credibility. The impact on the client where prices are needed, but not shown, can be distressing.....(OFT 2001)

Training: Funeral directors and embalmers in the UK are not legally required to have any formal qualifications or training. Almost a third of workers in the sector have no qualifications, and 39 per cent have NVQ Levels 1 and 2. Only 15 percent have NVQ Level 4 (degree level).12 This lack of formal qualifications compares poorly with other industries....(OFT 2001)

Yet the OFT did little about its observations!

In November 2002, The Daily Telegraph summarised succinctly:

Funeral industry axes ombudsman

The consistent failure by the Office of Fair Trading to impose stricter controls on a clutch of troublesome service industries was highlighted last week by news that the funerals ombudsman service had been quietly axed at the end of September.

Britain's funeral industry is one of seven "priority" industries singled out for reform by the OFT at the beginning of 2001. Estate agents, motor mechanics, credit repair agencies and travel firms are among others targeted.

John Vickers, director general of fair trading, demanded new, more effective, codes of practice, including service assessment schemes and independent complaints handling services, subject to regular scrutiny by the OFT.

All seven proposed codes were due to receive final approval by November 2001. The first two - estate agents and car mechanics - were given the go-ahead last week.

The funeral industry has meanwhile shut its independent complaints procedure.

Lets Do Something About It Now!!