Four minute read
Council funeral officer, Evie King, has put public health funerals under the spotlight with her accessible and moving book, 'Ashes to Admin: Tales from the Caseload of A Council Funeral Officer'.
In this blog, she explodes some of the misconceptions and myths about the funerals which the council organises for people with no next of kin or no money.
1. There are many reasons why someone might have a council-organised funeral
Estrangement — voluntary or involuntary — is one. It’s not necessarily that there’s been a big row or an issue — someone can simply disappear out of contact.
Sometimes dementia or mental health challenges make it hard to maintain a connection. Some situations are very complicated.
There are also solitary people — by choice or by circumstance. Some people are very clear that they don’t want other people around. Others may have outlived immediate family members and friends.
There will also be people who have caused harm, for example sex offenders. You need a neutral council service to deal with them. No one should have to rely on people’s goodwill for a funeral — sometimes there won’t be goodwill.
It’s not up to us to judge - we should provide the same service for everyone.
There are also unidentified people. If the police don’t know who someone is, we can’t reach their family. This can include displaced people or asylum seekers. We always bury them, rather than organise a cremation. If necessary, they can be exhumed later fro further evidence, or if family are found.
The largest umbrella category is people without the money. This could be anyone and everyone and it’s on the rise.
2. Having a council-organised funeral is not sad or tragic
When I tell people about my job, they often say, ‘how sad, how tragic’. But it’s not a failure to have died in these circumstances, It’s not to do with your personality. It could simply be how things turn out — maybe you lived to be very old and all your important people died before you.
When I do training for funeral officers, I stress that these funerals should be referred to as council or assisted, not ‘paupers’ as they have been called in the past.
Keep the language neutral and focus on what you’re doing, not who you think you’re dealing with.
The most important thing in our job is not to make assumptions about the people referred to you. It’s risky to judge.
3. It’s where you die, not where you live that matters…
Section 46 [of the 1984 Public Health Act] makes it the duty of the local authority to organise the cremation of those who die or are found dead within their area, where there is no next of kin or where next of kin are unwilling or unable to organise a funeral.
It’s not where a person has lived, but where they have died, which determines which council is responsible.
4. The council has a duty to cremate or bury the person’s body, but there is no legal obligation to provide a funeral ceremony
Some council support grants have been taken away and most halved. Accordingly, policy decisions based on funding can mean removing the funeral service element which we are not legally obliged to provide.
A direct cremation is fine if it’s your choice, but I always argue that the funeral service is so important. It makes all the difference and would cost only a few hundred pounds more.
In cases where councils have removed the funeral element, I suggest creativity to get around this challenge.
Consider an ‘attended direct cremation’ — where people can accompany the coffin briefly into the chapel to music and say a brief goodbye — or standing together outside in the garden of remembrance at the time of the cremation if not allowed inside.
5. Council funerals are often organised by the environmental health department
In 1984, when Section 46 was created, there was no notion of funeral poverty because the funeral grant still existed. This grant was removed three years later.
The Act was not designed as a service for the bereaved. Terms like ‘disposal’ are used because it’s public health legislation, which is why the service often sits where it does within the council. It can be very uncomfortable for a family to have to come to the environmental health department when someone dies.
6. Funeral poverty is on the rise and needs urgent action
We are holding back the tide. Council-organised funerals are a buffer for inadequate DWP [Government Department for Work and Pensions] provision, which provides too little under criteria which are too narrow.
I think the government should be broadening DWP funeral payment eligibility and raising the amount available.
The welfare state used to be cradle to grave, but it’s not anymore. There needs to be a national health and care service that ends with a national funeral service.
Funeral directors can end up taking the loss when families don’t have enough money to pay, and this contributes to prices going up. The cycle needs to be broken.
One in five people can’t afford a funeral, but only 10% of those come to us or the DWP. Instead, people sell items, use their credit cards or take out a loan, just to afford a funeral. There is a lot of hidden financial distress. This will come to the fore much more as funeral costs continue to rise.
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Read more on the Poppy’s blog. Read our interview with Down to Earth about funeral poverty and find help in paying for a funeral.