Pauper's funerals increase as Government rejects half of welfare applicants

Strained families are being forced to bury their dead using so-called 'pauper's funerals' because the Government is turning down almost half of those who apply for funeral payments.

The Government Funeral Payment system, designed for those who need support with funeral costs, is being inundated with applications, a new report has revealed. Even for those who do get help, the typical sum awarded is £1,217, which is far short of the average £3091 cost of a funeral.

Kate Woodthorpe, from the University of Bath, said that it is "becoming too expensive for poor people to die". "Thousands of the most vulnerable in society are being let down by a system of state support that lacks coherence and is so unclear that some applicants have to resort to alternative means to organise a funeral."

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfina...fare-applicants.html


Hmmmmmm. Anyone else noticing a slight....inconsistency regarding a certain recent death?

I was at a cemetery recently & I was amazed at how many people were just buried there without any headstone or anything.

Space Bandit wrote: A couple of years back, a bout of heavy winds caused a few headstones to fall over (If I recall correctly a couple of kids were killed by them) and from then on unstable stones were flattened and the families charged hefty fees for re-mounting them securely. I'm sure that has also been a factor in folks now opting not to go for markers.

Families can also incur unexpected stone removal costs if it becomes common knowledge that their DJ relation was a manky serial beast.
I doubt this has had the same impact nationally though.

Ha everyone got their kazoos ready for the one minute's silence?

Ha everyone got their kazoos ready for the one minute's silence?

Gilly wrote:
I'll be singing 'Don't cry for me Argentina' dressed as General Galtieri.

When is this silence thing then?

Potential troublemakers are to be rounded up by police before Margaret Thatcher’s £10million funeral as part of a huge security operation involving more than 4,000 officers.

Known activists will be targeted in dawn raids over fears they will whip up violence as the former PM is laid to rest in London.

Some of the 2,000 people who attended a party at Trafalgar Square on Saturday to celebrate her death were watched by police and MI5. Officers arrested 16 people for drink and public order-related offences.


Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cops-plan-...832813#ixzz2Qblu7Rcs
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

Ha everyone got their kazoos ready for the one minute's silence?

Conservative MP Peter Bone has told Daybreak that London could profit from Margaret Thatcher's funeral as more people wishing to pay their respects have been brought into the area. He said:

“I don't first of all accept that this is costing £10 million, because think how many people have been brought into London, how much extra business, it's probably actually going to work out as a profit for the economy.
It is absolutely the correct thing to do. "

WARNING 16 April 2013
By Beaubodor
This is part of a set which includes a gun carriage, hundreds of police, army, navy and air force figures plus assorted politicians and dictators.
You'll need at least £10 million pounds to collect all the pieces.
I tried to complain about the cost but I've been arrested.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0071DSAQA/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_rEfBrb11PXV0N

Reviews:

After setting up the somewhat flimsy product in my living room (admittedly insight of passing trade) I began to be visited by racists and psychopaths. I'm unsure if the two are connected but at the same time my first aid kit was plundered, my alarm clock stopped working and I lost my job. Avoid.

Margaret Thatcher's funeral: 23 things you could pay for with £10m