A REPORT has shown that funeral costs in Scotland have reached a record high, with burial services coming in at an average of £5,055.
The figures come in a report from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), who have revealed that the average cremation service cost has also risen to £4,425.
This year Scottish Councils are expecting to pay for a record number of state-funded “pauper’s graves” for those who cannot cover the costs.
Councils across Scotland have already spent £1.7m on these services in the past five years.
The rising cost is expected to hit Scotland’s pensioners the hardest, with Alex Neil, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ Rights saying that his office has been “inundated” with concerned pensioners, troubled by the prospect of a pauper’s grave.
In response he said, “I have commissioned an information brochure to be prepared to make it available to pensioners to help them.”
Fraser Sutherland, a Policy Officer for CAS said, “The cost of a funeral can come as a sudden shock to many pensioners when their life-long partner passes.”
“For many this cost is too much to bear but they feel ashamed at having to rely on family or friends to help.”
