Public funeral bill hits £250,000 in Wolverhampton
Taxpayers in Wolverhampton have been forced to shell out over £250,000 since 2009 on public funerals, despite many of the deceased having living relatives.
A total of 231 funerals paid for by the council have taken place in the city since 2009, at a cost of £256,644.
This means each funeral has cost the taxpayer £1,111, despite there being relatives alive in nearly half of these cases.
But Wolverhampton council has defended the expenditure saying it has a 'statutory duty' to provide a funeral for the deceased, whereas there is no legal obligation for relatives.
Tim Clark, a spokesperson for the council, said in a statement: "The local authority has a statutory duty to assume responsibility for funerals when a person dies in Wolverhampton and there is no provision for a funeral and there is no-one else to assume the responsibility.
"There may be family members alive but they may not be in a position to pay for the funeral. There is no legal obligation for a relative to assume responsibility for the funeral of a deceased person and if they refuse to arrange the funeral then the local authority must make the necessary arrangements.
"Wolverhampton council last year tendered for a four year funeral contract, the contract was awarded to the Co-operative Funeral Directors and runs from April 2015-March 2019, the cost for the funeral director fee will remain unchanged for the term of the contract."
The figures show that the Co-operative Funeral Directors charge Wolverhampton council £1,260 per funeral under this new four-year contract.
According to the data, obtained through a freedom of information request, one funeral in August last year cost the tax payer £19,954.
But the council has disputed this figure, saying it was a monthly bill from the Co-Op for a series of funerals as opposed to a one off.
Mr Clark continued: "In regards to the data supplied and cost of £19,954.00 for August 14/15, I can confirm that this amount is the accumulated cost for the funerals undertaken in the preceding months, you will note that for the previous months nil cost is reported despite a number of funerals having taken place."
Last year, taxpayers forked out £32,762 for public funerals. This is a decrease of £11,670 on the £44,432 spent the year before, however there were 13 less funerals.
The most expensive year was 2011/12 when 45 public funerals cost the council £47,522.67.
In 2009/10 there were 40 funerals at a cost of £43,867, 46 at a cost of £42,742 in 2010/11 and 35 costing £45,319.0 in 2012/13.
