DEATH has become less lucrative for Dumfries and Galloway Council — due to more people choosing cremations over burials nowadays.
Council chiefs are projecting that the local authority will be £60,000 out of pocket at the end of this financial year because of this funeral trend.
An expected number of burial plots have not been snapped up, which means that income has dropped and work is being done to try and balance the books.
In a report due to be tabled at the council’s economy and resources committee next week, finance officer Thomas Alder, wrote: “Overall, the community assets service is projected to return an overspend of £84K at the end of the financial year. This includes a forecast income shortfall of £64K relating to burials.
“This pressure is reflective of wider national trends and shifts from burials to cremations, which are generally less costly.
“There may be an increase in advanced lair purchase income next year as this option is extended to all cemeteries that can accommodate it, but this may only provide partial mitigation.
“This will be monitored as new information becomes available.”
Purchasing burial plots at one of the region’s cemeteries costs £643 for Dumfries and Galloway residents, or £896 for non-residents, on top of other funeral fees.
The council has a scheme which lets you buy a burial lair in advance, although the location is not allocated until the time of burial. However, this scheme is not available in every cemetery due to a shortage of spaces.
The average cost of a cremation in Dumfries and Galloway in 2024 was £960, according to figures by The Cremation Society, however this may not account for some additional fees.
For centuries, burials were the most common method of disposing a body in Britain, until cremations overtook burials for the first time in 1968.
This trend accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic when funerals were restricted. By 2020 the number of cremations rose by more than 15 percent in just one year.
By 2022, a record 79.83 percent of deceased people were cremated.
