Focus on incredible cost of funerals

Anybody want to get involved in this?

Mar 14 Focus on incredible cost of funerals

The incredible cost of funerals in the UK was highlighted recently in a news report on Russia Today, noting that funeral poverty has doubled in the past three years. Quaker Social Action has been tackling funeral poverty in east London for over 3 years with the Down to Earth service, helping people to arrange meaningful and affordable funerals, and has seen the impact that not being able to afford a funeral has had on people.

"One family who had lost their mother, did not have enough money to even buy teabags and milk, as our worker discovered when he visited them at home," explains QSA's director, Judith Moran. "Imagine not being able to just have a cup of tea, to soothe you, when your mum had died. And of course not being able to offer even basic hospitality."

The Russia Today report points that while the average funeral cost in the UK is around £7,500 (including the funeral itself, discretionary costs such as flowers and administration), it is three times the £2,500 cost in France and almost double the £4,200 cost in the US.

"We know that we make such a big difference for those who are desperately struggling to afford a funeral," adds Judith Moran.

QSA campaigns against funeral poverty to convince the government and the funeral industry that the issue requires urgent attention. That's why we've employed the UK's first national funeral poverty campaigner who is asking for your support and involvement to help find practical and political solutions to this growing problem.

To help QSA in the fight against funeral poverty visit our resources page where you can sign up for updates when we release new materials: http://www.quakersocialaction.com/downtoearth/resources.

The Russia Today report can be seen on YouTube.