Dundee charity sees rise in number of families pushed into funeral poverty

More and more families are struggling to pay for their loved ones’ funerals according to a north east charity.

Figures show the cost of a basic funeral service has reached a record high – having almost doubled in the last decade to more than £4,000.

When Nicola Liddell’s mum Linda was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she was worried her death would become a financial burden to her family.

She told STV News: “One of the last conversations I had with my mum, while she was still lucid, she said ‘Nicola I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t have any life insurance and I don’t have any savings’.

“I said to my mum ‘please don’t worry’, but she said ‘I do worry Nicola, I don’t want to be a burden when I’m gone.’

“Your natural instinct is to say, ‘you’re not and you never would be.’ But realistically, you both know that, with no life savings,[you ask] ‘how are you going to pay this? How are the people left behind going to pay it’.”

Nicola was able to get help from Dundee-based charity Funeral Link, which has been operating in the city since 2019.

They’ve seen more people come to them looking for help.

Funeral poverty is on the rise in Scotland STV News

Service manager Ewan Gurr said: “There’s been a 120% increase in the costs related to a funeral over the past 20 years.

“Our concern is there’s a lot of talk about fuel poverty, food poverty and a variety of other issues, but funeral poverty is one of those things which sometimes slips below the radar and it’s something that everybody needs to think about.

“We’re talking a lot about the cost of living but very little about the cost of dying and there is a very large cost associated with that.”

The Scottish Government does offer a funeral support payment to people who receive certain benefits.

But with the average cost of a funeral in Scotland reaching more than £4,000, there’s concern the need for extra help will continue to grow.

A spokesperson for Social Security Scotland said: “When facing bereavement of a loved one, the added financial strain of paying for funeral costs presents an unwanted further burden. Since Funeral Support Payment was launched in 2019, the Scottish Government has provided over £41m in support to more than 22,000 bereaved people to help pay for funeral costs at a time when they need it most.”