The sudden death of his mother in January came as a double shock to 18-year-old Kyle Hobson. Impacted by grief, this sales apprentice from Bolton, near Manchester, soon realized to his horror that he and his sister could not afford to cover the cost of her funeral. In desperation, he decided to open a page on the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, so that he could give her "a simple funeral, plus a few extras like flowers." By the end of January, he had raised £4,464 (€5,360).

Like him, many Britons struggle to cover the burial costs of their loved ones. And with good reason: In the UK, the average price of a basic funeral, with guests, rose by 3.5% in 2024, to £4,285, according to a report published in January by insurer SunLife, based on interviews with over 1,500 families and 100 funeral home directors. In the space of two decades, this amount has climbed by 134%. "This increase is well above inflation, which reached 75% during the same period," said SunLife boss Mark Screeton.

Funeral directors have pointed to the rising cost of energy and raw materials for caskets. "The high price of land in some cities, such as London, is also increasing the price of plots in cemeteries," said Screeton. In the British capital, a single burial costs £5,449 on average, 27% more than in the rest of the country.

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