Haunted by debt and poverty even in grief...

While surfing through the internet tonight, I came across an article by James Elliott from the Observer. The article talks about the rising cost of funerals and how many funeral directors are raising prices by 11% and demanding payment upfront.

Eighty-five-year-old Winifred Nunn, who lives in Mile End, east London, had to delay her husband's cremation for a month after his death in January because she could not afford to pay for his funeral. "The undertaker wanted a payment in advance, but I didn't have enough," she says. "The hospital was telling me to hurry up because I couldn't leave my husband in their mortuary. I couldn't believe this was happening and felt like I was going mad."

Eventually, after a resident warden from the estate where she lives intervened, the funeral director agreed to accept her life savings of £600 as a downpayment on the £2,400 funeral. Most funeral directors now ask for a deposit of up to £1,000 to cover crematorium charges, doctors' certificates and other third-party fees before a funeral can take place.

Nunn is waiting for the outcome of an application to the government's Social Fund funeral grant scheme for help in paying back the outstanding £1,800, but the most she can expect will be around £1,160. "I don't how I'm going to pay the rest. I try not to think about it," she says.

What kind of society do we now live in? I am sickened and very sad.