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Video Message from Anne Widdop, Founder of Fuze Ceremonies and Chair of The Fuze Foundation

Recently, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a report telling us that 14 million people live in poverty in the UK or one in five of the population.

Poverty has a massive impact on people’s ability to pay for Funerals, and it’s not just people living in poverty who have an issue. The average cost of a Funeral in Scotland is £3,500 rising to over £4,000 in England and Wales. And that doesn’t include other costs – such as flowers, death notices, celebrant fees, catering, the funeral reception, all of which can amount to an addition £2,000 on top of the Funeral Director costs. If people are eligible, the average that will be paid out in benefits is around £1,300, which doesn’t come close to meeting the costs.

A recent report for the Scottish Government Funeral Poverty in Scotland evidences the increasing number of Scots who are struggling to pay for basic funerals and the unacceptable situations many families find themselves in when recently bereaved. Funeral costs continue to escalate and in one local authority area, prices increased by over 40% last year, an unaffordable inflation for those struggling on low incomes.

What are Fuze Ceremonies doing to help?

Fuze Ceremonies Directors established The Fuze Foundation to help humanitarian causes and offer support to those in need. They now have sufficient funds in the Foundation to offer a number of Free Funeral Ceremonies (Celebrants) and hope, with public donations, to keep this service going. They are driven to do this because of personal experience and a deeply held belief in tackling Funeral poverty.

You can find out more or get in touch here

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