The British funeral industry to study for high prices | Business

The UK's competition watchdog has launched a massive survey of the funeral market worth £ 2 billion a year, after finding that prices have been above inflation for more than 10 years.

The Competition and Markets Authority said that price increases – both for funeral services and crematoriums – did not appear to be justified by cost increases or quality improvements.

People typically spend between £ 3,000 and £ 5,000 for funerals and the price of essentials has increased by more than two-thirds over the past 10 years, almost three times the rate of inflation.

Funerals now cost nearly 40% of their annual expenses to those with the lowest incomes, more than their combined food, clothing and energy expenditures.

Funerals cost an average of £ 4,271 (excluding discretionary items), up 68% over the past 10 years, while cremation costs average £ 737, up 84%, compared to an inflation of 25%. %. Cremations account for 77% of funeral services.

The watchdog said consumers could save more than £ 1,000 by comparing options available in their area. However, since customers are generally worried, they tend not to do so, allowing some undertakers to charge higher prices. In addition, prices are often not available online, making comparison difficult.

While some smaller funeral directors have sought to keep prices low, other providers – especially big chains – have introduced high year-over-year price increases, said the CMA. He said that a number of them had introduced less expensive funeral options, but that does not go far enough to offset the years of higher price increases than inflation.

The co-operative, one of the largest funeral service providers in the UK, started cutting prices two years ago, forcing rival Dignity to cut the price of its cheapest funeral package by 25% this year. Dignity, the UK's only publicly traded funeral services company, has also announced plans to publish prices online and implement a single national fee for basic services.

Andrea Coscelli, general manager of the CMA, said, "People grieving after the loss of a loved one are extremely vulnerable and risk being exploited. We must ensure that they are protected in these difficult times, and we are very concerned about the substantial increases in the price of funerals over the past decade.

"We now feel that the full powers of a market investigation are needed to solve the problems we have discovered. We also want to hear from people who have experienced bad practices in the sector, so that we can take all the necessary steps to resolve these issues. "