Bereaved families criticise councils' 'grief tax'

Bereaved families have condemned as a "tax on grief" the policy of most councils in Greater Manchester to charge higher fees for burying people who lived in another borough.

Some local authorities charge "non-residents" double the price for graves and burials.

Families and funeral directors are campaigning for a flat fee to be levied across Greater Manchester's 10 boroughs.

Manchester City Council said its fees were calculated to "protect the limited grave space" for local families and offered them a discounted rate.

Jen Dinelow's parents lived in the Gorton area of Manchester for most of their lives before moving just over a mile into Reddish, which falls within the borough of Stockport.

After they died, Jen had to pay about £1,000 extra for a grave plot for her mum, and later hundreds of pounds more for her dad's burial.

She said it was her parents' wish to be laid to rest at Gorton Cemetery, joining family members who had gone before them.

Jen said: "It was just shocking to be honest, because I didn't imagine with this being our local cemetery that there would be any extra charge just because of my postcode.

"We are closer to the cemetery than Stockport Cemetery by quite a fair bit - I think this is one mile away from our homes and Stockport's three and a half miles.

"It just seemed like a really unnecessary kind of tax on top of grief really."

Sam Siddell, who lives in Denton, had a similar experience when her father died last year and wanted to be buried in Manchester, where he had grown up.

Because he lived in Stockport at the time of his death, his family faced significantly higher fees.

Sam said: "We were told that if we wanted to bury him out of the area where he lived that it would cost us around an extra £1,000 for the grave.

"As the buyer of the grave, I'm also out of the area so they would charge that fee again.

"So it was quite a lot of money to be paying out."

Every year in Greater Manchester about 15% of burials are for "non-local" residents.

As a result, the councils are collecting more than £500,000 every year in non-resident fees.

Wigan is the only borough in Greater Manchester where there is a flat charge for everyone.

Grant Longden, from Mulligan's Funeral Services in Stockport, has been challenging the other councils to explain why the extra fees are justified.

He said some had told him it had been their policy since the 1860s.

"Some families are stuck between guilt and debt," he said.

"Some people will go into debt in order to look after their loved ones and have them buried exactly where they wanted.

"It's my responsibility as a funeral director dealing with vulnerable people that I have to safeguard them as well.

"I'm asking for fairness - I'm not asking for anything that I feel is outrageous. Other funeral directors feel the same way about it as well."

A spokesperson for Manchester City Council said: "The loss of any family member is a profoundly tragic event for anyone to go through, and the council's bereavement service is staffed by dedicated people who help our residents navigate through some of the toughest of times.

"In Manchester, we do not apply additional charges for burial or cremation for non-residents.

"Residents living within the borough receive a discounted rate. These fees are set to help protect the limited grave space available in Manchester for local residents.

"Similar arrangements exist across many Greater Manchester boroughs, where local authorities have policies designed to encourage funeral services within their communities."

A Wigan Council spokesperson said: "We do not currently apply an additional fee for burials of non-residents.

"This is largely out of consideration for those who may have moved away from the borough in later life, but whose families wish them to be buried within the borough."

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