Funeral Costs: What to Expect and How to Get Help Paying

Costs vary a lot by region and by the choices you make, but as a guide (SunLife's 2025 Cost of Dying report):

• ✓A simple attended funeral: around £4,285 on average
• ✓A direct cremation (no service at the crematorium): often £1,200 to £1,800
• ✓The total 'cost of dying', including the send-off and estate administration: close to £9,800

The biggest single costs are usually the funeral director's fees and the burial or cremation fee. You are free to shop around, and you do not have to take the most expensive package a funeral director offers.

• ✓Ask funeral directors for their standardised price list (they must show one) and compare
• ✓Consider a direct cremation, then hold your own memorial separately, often far cheaper
• ✓You don't have to use a funeral director at all, you can arrange a funeral yourself through the cemetery or crematorium
• ✓Check whether the person had a prepaid funeral plan or funeral wishes in their will before committing to anything
• ✓Some councils and co-operatives offer simple, lower-cost 'fair funeral' options

If you are responsible for the funeral and you or your partner get a qualifying benefit (such as Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based JSA or ESA, or Housing Benefit), you may get help:

• ✓Funeral Expenses Payment (England and Wales): covers burial or cremation fees in full, plus necessary travel and moving the body, plus up to £1,000 towards other costs like the funeral director, coffin and flowers. If the person had a prepaid plan, you can only get up to £120 for items the plan didn't cover.
• ✓Funeral Support Payment (Scotland): a flat-rate payment towards other expenses (the amount is uprated each year, check mygov.scot for the current figure), plus help with actual burial or cremation costs and some travel.
• ✓These payments usually don't cover the whole funeral, and any amount paid is normally recovered from the deceased's estate.

• ✓Funeral costs are a first call on the deceased's estate, so they're paid before most other debts. Banks will usually release money from the person's account to pay the funeral bill, even before probate, if you show them the invoice.
• ✓If there's no money in the estate and no one able to pay, the local council (or the NHS, if the person died in hospital) must arrange a simple 'public health funeral'.
• ✓A public health funeral is basic but respectful; the council may try to recover the cost from any estate that later comes to light.

Separately, a surviving husband, wife, civil partner or cohabiting partner with children may be able to claim Bereavement Support Payment, which is not specifically for the funeral but can help with the wider financial impact.

A prepaid funeral plan lets you pay for your funeral in advance, at today's prices, so your family is not left with the bill or the decisions. Since 29 July 2022 prepaid funeral plans have been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a major improvement after past mis-selling. That means:

• ✓Providers must be FCA-authorised, and you can check the FCA register before you buy
• ✓Your money is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if the provider fails
• ✓Plans must be sold fairly, with clear information about exactly what is and isn't included