Funeral Poverty

Families waiting more than a year to bury their loved ones as 'funeral poverty' grows

Deceased people have been held in mortuaries for more than a year whilst relatives struggle to pay for funerals, research by ITV News shows.

In a grim new sign of what’s been called 'funeral poverty', undertakers and hospitals say delays in burials and cremations are increasingly being caused by financial strain on the bereaved.

A Freedom of Information request by ITV News has revealed that a quarter of hospital trusts in England have held bodies for three months or more, as families could not afford the cost of a funeral.

To see the ITV news clip, click here