This year, our research found that 59% of people had made specific financial provisions to pay for their funeral before they died; this is a slight increase on last year’s figure of 57%. Of those, 84% had made sufficient provision to cover the entire cost. Over a quarter (27%) had bought a prepaid funeral plan – a rise on 2014, when less than a quarter (24%) had a prepaid funeral plan in place. The 57% whose loved ones had either not made any financial provisions or not sufficient enough to cover all costs, had to find £2,449 on average to cover the costs; this is an increase of 3.3% on last year’s figure of £2,371. Of the 41% of people whose loved ones had made no financial provisions, one in six (17%) said that finding the money to cover the cost of the funeral had caused them ‘notable financial concerns’. Of this group half (50%) had to borrow money, either from friends or relatives (21%), the bank or a loan provider(8%) or via a credit card (21%). One in seven (14%) said they had to sell belongings to cover the cost, while 17% were forced to work out a payment plan with the funeral director. 41% took money from their own savings or investments.
