Funeral costs

A traditional UK funeral with mourners and a service averages £4,510, from SunLife's 2026 Cost of Dying report. The figure moves with the type of service, the location and the funeral director, and third-party fees such as the crematorium or cemetery charge make up a large part of it.

Funero does not arrange traditional funerals. We arrange direct cremation at a fixed £1,295, with collection across London, Nottinghamshire and Doncaster, every form handled, and the ashes returned to you. We also handle repatriation to and from the UK, with a published price for every country we cover.

The cost by type of funeral

The same SunLife report puts a burial with a service at £5,440 on average, a cremation with a service at £4,200 and a direct cremation at £1,628. A burial usually costs more because of the plot, which averages £2,374 and varies widely by region. The wake, the flowers, the notices and a headstone are not in those figures; the report puts the average spend on them at around £1,300.

What is on the bill

A funeral bill has four parts. The funeral director's own fee covers collection, care, the arrangements, the paperwork and the staff on the day. The coffin is the second. The third is the disbursements, the crematorium or cemetery fee and the minister or celebrant, which the funeral director pays and passes on at cost. The fourth is everything optional, such as cars, flowers and an order of service.

How to compare two quotes

Every funeral director must give you a standardised price list and an itemised estimate. Compare the fee, the coffin and the third-party fees one by one, and check that the crematorium fee has not been left out of a low headline price.

Help with the cost

If you receive a qualifying benefit and are arranging the funeral, the Funeral Expenses Payment pays the cremation or burial fee in full and up to £1,000 towards the rest. When no one is able to arrange or pay for a funeral, the council has a duty to provide a public health funeral.

Read next

The figures, line by line, are in how much a funeral costs in the UK. If the cost is the worry, read the cheapest ways to be cremated and how to claim the Funeral Expenses Payment. Our own direct cremation is a fixed £1,295.

Related terms: Funeral plan and Types of funeral. Every term in the funeral glossary.