SAIF challenges 2025 SunLife report for misleading interpretation of simple funerals
15/01/2025 // No CommentsSAIF, the largest funeral trade association in the UK, has called on SunLife to issue a clarification on the way it calculates the cost of funerals amid fears that consumers are being misled.
The move follows the publication of the over 50s insurance group’s Cost of Dying Report 2025, which claims that the average cost of a ‘simple funeral’ has risen by 3.5 percent during the past year to £4,285.
SAIF is concerned that the figure is based on items not normally included in a ‘simple funeral’, such as a more expensive higher grade coffin and a limousine.
This is at odds with the attended funeral that all funeral directors are legally required to offer under Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rules and is seen as a useful benchmark for a ‘simple funeral’.
According to the CMA’s standardised price list, which became law in 2021, the only transport offered in an attended funeral is the hearse, and coffins are described as “suitable”, generally taken to be low-cost oak veneer.
SAIF President Declan Maguire said: “We’re disappointed to see this confusing terminology in SunLife’s latest report. The funeral sector and the CMA have worked hard to ensure transparency for consumers, and the progress we’ve made risks being undermined by these figures.
“This is why SAIF commissioned a new independent annual report that provides the real average cost of a funeral in the UK. Consumers should not be driven by fear to purchase prepaid funeral products based on reports from insurers.
“What SunLife describes as a ‘simple funeral’ is actually what 99 percent of funeral directors would regard as a traditional funeral. Based on our report, a typical simple funeral costs several hundreds of pounds less than SunLife claims.
“We call upon SunLife to commit to providing clarification in the short term, reviewing its report methodology and working with the funeral sector to support the CMA’s guidance on transparency.”
Declan added that he was also concerned by the “simplistic nature” of SunLife’s Cost of Dying report.
With direct cremation accounting for as much as 20 percent of funerals in the UK today, the actual average cost of saying goodbye is likely to be hundreds of pounds lower than the SunLife report suggests.
Declan said: “Many people will see the headlines about funeral costs rising and will be concerned about their ability to provide a fitting send-off for loved ones.
“The best way to understand prices in your area is to go online and look at your local funeral director websites rather than read reports that fail to meet the basic definitions followed by the industry.”