More than £9,000 spent on ‘Pauper’s’ funerals

Rochdale Council has had to foot the bill for eight so-called pauper’s funerals so far this financial year.

As national trends point to increasing numbers of people dying alone, there’s often no friends or relatives willing or able to pay for their funeral.

Rochdale Council has forked out more than £9,000 on funerals since April last year. It also paid for ten funerals between April 2007 and April 2008.

Keith Avery, Health & Safety Manager at Rochdale Council said: “For this current year we are still dealing with several other cases which have not been finalised and do not therefore appear as part of the financial picture or total numbers. The projected number of funerals for this current financial year is expected to be slightly higher than last year.”

According to Graham Easton, spokesman for the British Institute of Funeral Directors (BIFD), the national rise is a result of the increased number of people living in single households.

He said: “Within the next 10 years, more and more people in their 50s and 60s, who are more than likely to have been married and divorced, will be found dead with no relatives or friends who are traceable.”

When someone dies in these circumstances in hospital, the hospital trust takes responsibility for their funeral.

However Pennine Acute Trust revealed that just three patients with no apparent friends or relatives died at Rochdale Infirmary last year.

A Trust spokesman said: “When someone dies in hospital we do our very best to track down any friends or family that person may have had.

“Our small dedicated team can also work with social services and the media to track down distant relatives and it is only on very rare occasions this is not possible.

“In these instances the Trust’s chaplaincy organise the funeral to try and give that person the dignity they deserve.

“Although it is preferable that the funeral is organised by the deceased’s loved ones, our team of chaplains do take time to respect any wishes they may have had.

“In the absence of a will all funds are donated to the Duchy of Lancaster.”