Latest news with #FuneralDirectorsAssociation
Newsroom
5 days ago
- Health
- Newsroom
Death done better: funeral costs in the spotlight
Paying to bury (or cremate) the person who meant the most in the world to you is going to be fraught with resentment right from the start. 'It's a grudge purchase and also a grief purchase isn't it … it's a purchase you don't want to make,' says Gillian Boyes, the chief executive of the Funeral Directors Association. An average funeral costs around $10,000 but it varies widely. Those costs are in the spotlight with a government health committee report on 'cremation costs and associated matters', after advocate group Death Without Debt made a push for a more affordable way of doing things. Funeral directors also had their say in the briefing, along with the Ministry of Health, which agrees that the processes prescribed under legislation are outdated and disproportionate, and need modernisation. The legislation dealing with burial and cremation rules dates back to Acts from 1964 and 1973, but work to update them has been going on for 15 years – and keeps getting pushed out. Funeral directors say that's far too long. 'Look we would love to see that review completed,' says Boyes. 'There's some bits in the regulations that are just problematic now.' She was at a water burial recently which uses technology not dreamed about last century – it isn't even a regulated disposal method because the rules haven't been updated. 'They're doing some work right now on these … and that will tidy that up to an extent, but it is really frustrating that it's sat there for the best part of 15 years and hasn't been completed,' says Boyes. Death Without Debt has been holding meetings around the country giving people information about DIY burials, including what people can or can't do, and has been calling for simpler processes. The Health Committee's report recommends the government's End of Life website make it easier to find information on DIY funerals, and encourages the health ministry to make all documents relating to cremation available on the Death Documents website. It also says the current regulations impose high costs on the public and are a barrier for those who want to organise their own funerals. But it stops short of setting changes in motion. There is a lot of paperwork involved with death. There must be either a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, or a coroner's authorisation. All cemetery burials must be registered. For a cremation there's a medical referee form that must be signed. And all deaths must be registered with the Department of Internal Affairs. 'There's some quite confusing-looking forms,' says Boyes. 'But they are all accessible to anyone, as long as you know how to step your way through them – and many people aren't very good at filling out forms.' She believes that concentrating on making sure everyone can download those forms is an easy fix for the government, but there are other more pressing solutions that are a bit more difficult. One of those would be to increase the size of the burial benefit that people who really can't afford to pay for a funeral can access … it currently sits at $2616, well below the average cost of a funeral. Boyes would also like to see price transparency for funerals improved, so people know exactly what they are paying for. Today on The Detail she goes step by step through a funeral director's bill and explains what it involves. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Funeral costs in the spotlight
Photo: 123rf Paying to bury (or cremate) the person who meant the most in the world to you is going to be fraught with resentment right from the start. "It's a grudge purchase and also a grief purchase isn't it ... it's a purchase you don't want to make," says Gillian Boyes, the chief executive of the Funeral Directors Association. An average funeral costs around $10,000, but it varies widely. Those costs are in the spotlight with a government health committee report on "cremation costs and associated matters", after advocate group Death Without Debt made a push for a more affordable way of doing things. Funeral directors also had their say in the briefing, along with the Ministry of Health, which agrees that the processes prescribed under legislation are outdated and disproportionate, and need modernisation. The legislation dealing with burial and cremation rules dates back to Acts from 1964 and 1973, but work to update them has been going on for 15 years - and keeps getting pushed out. Funeral directors say that is far too long. "Look, we would love to see that review completed," says Boyes. "There's some bits in the regulations that are just problematic now." She was at a water burial recently which uses technology not dreamed about last century - it is not even a regulated disposal method because the rules have not been updated. "They're doing some work right now on these... and that will tidy that up to an extent, but it is really frustrating that it's sat there for the best part of 15 years and hasn't been completed," says Boyes. Death Without Debt has been holding meetings around the country giving people information about DIY burials, including what people can or can't do, and has been calling for simpler processes. The Health Committee's report recommends the government's End of Life website makes it easier to find information on DIY funerals, and encourages the Health Ministry to make all documents relating to cremation available on the Death Documents website. It also says the current regulations impose high costs on the public and are a barrier for those who want to organise their own funerals. But it stops short of setting changes in motion. There is a lot of paperwork involved with death. There must be either a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, or a coroner's authorisation. All cemetery burials must be registered. For a cremation there is a Medical Referee form that must be signed. And all deaths must be registered with the Department of Internal Affairs. "There's some quite confusing looking forms," says Boyes. "But they are all accessible to anyone, as long as you know how to step your way through them - and many people aren't very good at filling out forms." She believes that concentrating on making sure everyone can download those forms is an easy fix for the government, but there are other more pressing solutions that are a bit more difficult. One of those would be to increase the size of the burial benefit that people who really can't afford to pay for a funeral can access ... it currently sits at $2616.12, well below the average cost of a funeral. Boyes would also like to see price transparency for funerals improved, so people know exactly what they are paying for. Today on The Detail she goes step by step through a funeral director's bill and explains what it involves. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
Scoop
04-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Health Select Committee Report Fails To Address Real Issues In Funeral Debt
Press Release – Funeral Directors Assn of NZ We think putting in place better consumer protection, with a backstop of genuine Government support for the most vulnerable is going to have far more impact on funeral debt than simplifying paperwork. The Funeral Directors Association says calls from advocacy group, Death without Debt, to simplify cremation paperwork is distracting Government from the real issues around funeral debt. The Health Select Committee has now released a report on cremation costs and associated matters, finding the current process and regulations create a barrier for people who want to organise their own funerals. However Chief Executive, Gillian Boyes, notes the Select Committee recognised it is already possible for people to complete the paperwork directly, recommending the Te Hokinga ā Wairua | End of Life Service website includes links on its website. 'We're incredibly frustrated this advocacy group has suggested making paperwork easier to find will somehow fix funeral debt,' says Ms Boyes. 'Completing paperwork is a fraction of the cost of funeral services. What does cost is what people want and need, which is the support in caring for them and their loved one when they're at a moment in life where they often can't think straight and where paperwork is the least of their concerns. That is the service funeral directors provide.' Ms Boyes says the industry's own submission to the Health Select Committee recommended the Government should instead focus on: Price transparency in law for all funeral directors. Currently only Funeral Directors Association members are obligated by their Standards and Code of Ethics to be transparent. An increase in the asset testing limit for pre-paid funerals from $10,000 to $15,000. This would ensure those with the means to pre-plan are setting aside a more realistic amount which avoids future debt. An increase in the Work and Income Funeral Grant. This would better protect those with no money for the essential services funeral directors provide. 'Government has to be realistic that when services are provided privately, there is cost involved. 'We think putting in place better consumer protection, with a backstop of genuine Government support for the most vulnerable is going to have far more impact on funeral debt than simplifying paperwork.'
Scoop
04-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Health Select Committee Report Fails To Address Real Issues In Funeral Debt
The Funeral Directors Association says calls from advocacy group, Death without Debt, to simplify cremation paperwork is distracting Government from the real issues around funeral debt. The Health Select Committee has now released a report on cremation costs and associated matters, finding the current process and regulations create a barrier for people who want to organise their own funerals. However Chief Executive, Gillian Boyes, notes the Select Committee recognised it is already possible for people to complete the paperwork directly, recommending the Te Hokinga ā Wairua | End of Life Service website includes links on its website. 'We're incredibly frustrated this advocacy group has suggested making paperwork easier to find will somehow fix funeral debt,' says Ms Boyes. 'Completing paperwork is a fraction of the cost of funeral services. What does cost is what people want and need, which is the support in caring for them and their loved one when they're at a moment in life where they often can't think straight and where paperwork is the least of their concerns. That is the service funeral directors provide.' Ms Boyes says the industry's own submission to the Health Select Committee recommended the Government should instead focus on: Price transparency in law for all funeral directors. Currently only Funeral Directors Association members are obligated by their Standards and Code of Ethics to be transparent. An increase in the asset testing limit for pre-paid funerals from $10,000 to $15,000. This would ensure those with the means to pre-plan are setting aside a more realistic amount which avoids future debt. An increase in the Work and Income Funeral Grant. This would better protect those with no money for the essential services funeral directors provide. 'Government has to be realistic that when services are provided privately, there is cost involved. 'We think putting in place better consumer protection, with a backstop of genuine Government support for the most vulnerable is going to have far more impact on funeral debt than simplifying paperwork.'
RNZ News
03-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Advocacy group calls for removal of funeral directors as cremation middleman
Photo: 123rf An advocacy group wants to see funeral directors removed as the middleman in cremations, saying it's costing people money. Death Without Debt spokesperson Fergus Wheeler explained two doctors were required to sign off on a death for cremation - the first would have seen the body and made notes about the cause of death, and a second doctor was required sign-off on that paperwork. Currently, the system was set up so that people needed a funeral director to facilitate this second sign-off, with funeral directors billing the family for doing so - but legally, it did not have to be done this way. Wheeler said a small tweak to the Ministry of Health's existing online death documents system could fix this, ideally allowing the first doctor's paperwork to be uploaded to the cloud to be checked by the second doctor, without the need for the funeral director to forward it on. He said the cloud already existed, it just required a change of process. "You can if you understand the medical referee system, sometimes, if you're lucky, get through the system," Wheeler said. "But 99.9 percent of the public have no idea how the system works." As well as giving funeral directors permission to charge a service fee for this administration task, it also gave them the opportunity to "hook people into a package deal", charging grieving families for things they did not need. The Funeral Directors Association strongly denied this allegation to the select committee. With cremations now making up 80 percent of deaths - in part because the cost was still a lot less than a burial - Wheeler said this affected a lot of people. "We don't blame the funeral industry particularly for this," Wheeler said. "It's actually the Ministry of Health [who have] known that the system has been dysfunctional for decades." The Health Select Committee's final report into funeral debt was released last week. In it, it agreed that "the current process and regulations impose high costs on the public and create a barrier for people who want to organise their own funerals, particularly when their loved ones are about to be cremated". It encouraged the ministry to prioritise further work on updating the cremation regulations, and requested a report on the planned changes to regulations before the end of this parliamentary term. "We also encourage the ministry to consider making all documents relating to cremation available on the Death Documents website. We note that the Ministry's planned work could address the current barriers to DIY funerals." But Wheeler said those directives to the ministry were weak and lacked urgency. "You've got a pretty major social problem with funeral debt happening, and the Health Select Committee have said, well, let's fix it sometime in the next few years. It's not quick enough, it's not urgent enough," he said. The Funeral Directors Association, which represents about 75 percent of funeral homes, was approached for comment by the select committee, and its comments were included in the final report. According to the report, it "strongly refuted what it described as Death Without Debt's 'allegations of predatory behaviour' on the part of funeral homes, and said that, on the contrary, the industry has a 'caring, respectful, and professional approach'." "It maintained that, without public funding of funeral services, private funeral companies must fill the void. In so doing, these companies incur property, insurance, compliance, staffing, and other costs, which must be covered by the prices they charge." It suggested the government introduce a legislative mandate for funeral prices to be transparent - it required price transparency from its members and said it encouraged them to offer free consultations for those pre-planning and pre-paying for funerals. Comments from the Ministry of Health were also included in the report. It acknowledged the current burial and cremation processes were "outdated and disproportionate, and needed modernisation". It said previous work in this area had been delayed by Covid-19, but it was in discussions with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Department of Internal Affairs about modernising the regulation of the funeral sector. "The ministry told us it is committed to reviewing the cremation regulations in 2025," the report said. The Funeral Directors Association, the Ministry of Health and the select committee have been approached for further comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
