Rise in ‘paupers’ funerals’ among elderly people

Many older people dying alone without family or friends willing or able to pay for burials and cremations, charity claims

More than 21,000 older people a year are dying alone without family or friends willing or able to pay for burials and cremations, with some regions seeing a 14% jump in the numbers of “paupers’ funerals” in the last five years, foreshadowing a crisis in social care, Grey Pride campaigners for elderly people claim.

A freedom of information request by Anchor, the older people’s charity, reveals that over-65s now account for 54% of all public-health funerals, with 17,000 in the north-west, 11,900 in the west midlands and over 11,000 in London taking place in the past five years.

In some areas there has been a dramatic rise in paupers’ funerals, underpinned by a rising tide of poverty-stricken pensioners. The south east-has seen a 14% increase in state-funded burials and cremations since 2006 while the east midlands saw an 8% rise over the same period.

According to official data there are 300,000 people living on state pensions which amount to just £37 per day to cover all expenses. The figures come as charities representing elderly people come together to lobby the prime minister over urgent improvements in social care .

Figures show that real spending on older people will be £250m lower in 2010–15 than 2004–5. At the same time the number of people over 85 has risen by two thirds to 630,000 people.

Anchor chief executive Jane Ashcroft said that given the greying of the population – 10m people in the UK are over 65 years old and there will be 5.5m more elderly people in 20 years time – it was “a travesty that the issues that matter to older people are under-represented in government”.