Nearly 2 in 5 persons, or 39 per cent, are left using their own funds to pay for the funeral costs of a loved one and 36 per cent have found that the funeral cost was higher than expected, according to Everest Funeral Concierge.
According to a recent study by Everest Funeral Concierge, organising a funeral is “extremely stressful” for 1 in 2 people or 52 per cent, and for 1 in 4 people or 26 per cent, it took longer than planned. Furthermore, roughly 66 per cent don’t want their burial to be a financial burden on their loved ones.
MetLife UK CEO Dominic Grinstead says: “The past few years and aftermath of the pandemic served as a timely reminder for many of us of our own mortality. It is important that people start opening up those conversations around death and ensuring they and their families feel informed, involved, and enabled to shape their own end-of-life plans.
“By encouraging these conversations, people can feel they are able to access emotional support services and take practical steps to help those who they will leave behind and their families have access to all the resources needed too when grieving the loss of a loved one.
“We identified a gap in the Group Life market to better support how employers can offer greater support to employees when they experience the loss of a loved one – not just emotionally but through practical resources.
“As a result, we partnered with Everest Funeral Concierge and extended our Group Life offering to more than 1.4 million UK employees to ensure they have experienced support available to plan ahead for funerals, will planning and critically, the administrative support to take care of funeral requirements when a loved one passes away. This ultimately allows a family more time to grieve at a very difficult time.”