How does the rise in Direct Cremations impact celebrants?

According to a recent report from the insurer SunLife, direct cremations now account for 18% of all funerals. For those who don't know, a direct cremation is when a person who has died is collected from their place of death, stored, then cremated without a funeral service and the family simply collect ashes of the deceased. Direct cremations have always been an option available, but largely, only used when people died with few or no relatives. Crematoria charge less for a direct cremation because they can happen very early or very late in the day or whenever there is a gap in their schedule. Some companies will also take a body to an out-of-area crematorium where costs are cheaper still. 

Direct cremations became more common place during the pandemic when restrictions limited the number of mourners. Rather than families selecting which few people could attend a funeral, instead, next-of-kin decided no one would go and they would have a direct cremation and celebrate the person who had died in a different way. 

With the average cost of a funeral being £3,953 last year compared with an average cost of £1,511 for a direct cremation, it is not hard to see why, with cost of living pressures, more families are making a positive choice to have a direct cremation. 

So how might this increasing trend have an impact upon the demand for Funeral Celebrants?

With fewer funerals, surely this means less demand for funeral celebrants? Not necessarily. There may be fewer traditional funerals but with the continued decline in  minister-led services in many areas, the two could offset each other for the civil Funeral Celebrant. 

Another perspective is that although the family don't have a traditional looking funeral, avoiding the cost of a hearse, limousines, chapel hire and a funeral director/coffin bearers on the day and they benefit from the cheaper cost of cremation, they might still want a semi-formal event officiated by a celebrant as part of a memorial or ash-scattering service. 

I have certainly done both of these and it requires a different type of marketing to secure them. Your work will not come via a Funeral Director, instead, the family need to contact you directly. As a result, it increases the need to have an internet presence either via social media (e.g. Facebook) or on a website or directory (e,g, so you can be found on Google). 

What do celebrants need to do differently?

If a funeral celebrant wants to benefit from the growth in direct cremations, they will need to consider marketing themselves online or pay for an advert in print media (e.g. local quality free magazine or the local hospital trust's bereavement book). 

Having a big Facebook presence for your funeral work will be important. But there is a risk.

Funeral Directors may not like working with celebrants who are seen to be chasing direct cremation work. Direct cremations are a threat to the traditional Funeral Director and when networks and relationships are so important, this could be at risk. 

However, some smaller Funeral Directors embrace the inevitable change in market trends. Direct Cremation companies are often office based and out-source the collection, storage and delivery of the person who has died to the crematorium. Who do they out-source these tasks to? Small local funeral directors of course. 

Celebrants should however, consider their pricing for memorials and ash-scattering services very carefully. When a celebrant does a job for the funeral director, many tasks like the organisation of music, the printed order of service, the booking of the venue etc, is the FD's responsibility. The celebrant must be cautious that they could be asked to carry out some or all of these functions by the family opting for a direct cremation, followed by a memorial or ash-scattering service. If these additional services are being provided by the celebrant, it makes sound business sense that these additional activities are charged for. Otherwise, the celebrant doing lots of these tasks at no charge will end up earning less than the minimum age. 

These shifts in funeral options I think are not universal and will be concentrated more in some areas than others. Socio-economics must come into it. So expect the shifts to be more obvious in poorer, urban areas.  What do you think? 

Personally, my view is that I do not anticipate a great increase in being used for services after a direct cremation. I think if families are choosing to do things differently to save costs, why spend a £250 on a celebrant, when instead it could be put behind the bar at a wake or to provide good food for an informal gathering to celebrate the person's life. 

There are many strong arguments to dissuade people opting for a direct cremation. But I will write about this in another blog. Some of these arguments however, are included in this BBC article below: 

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-64376094

Created with