Funeral Cost Index — Q3 2026
UK funeral pricing: Q3 2026
Based on CMA Standardised Price Lists captured from 3,497 UK funeral directors, the median UK direct cremation price is £1,545 and the median funeral director’s fee for an attended cremation is £2,870. Across regions, the median direct cremation ranges from £1,478 in North East to £1,945 in Northern Ireland — a 32% premium between the most and least expensive regions.
Headline figures
- Median direct cremation
- £1,545
- Median attended funeral
- £2,870
- Funeral directors surveyed
- 3,497
- Captured price-list coverage
- 71%
all-in, with cremation fee
funeral director’s charges only
with published price list
of indexed providers
Direct cremation, by region
Median price for an unattended (direct) cremation, by UK region. Regions with fewer than five captured prices are excluded.
| Region | Median | Range (P25–P75) | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Ireland | £1,945 | £1,757 – £2,003 | 16 |
| London | £1,695 | £1,400 – £2,044 | 242 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £1,558 | £1,284 – £1,823 | 270 |
| South East | £1,550 | £1,240 – £1,750 | 554 |
| East of England | £1,545 | £1,240 – £1,745 | 272 |
| East Midlands | £1,545 | £1,240 – £1,715 | 158 |
| West Midlands | £1,545 | £1,240 – £1,895 | 229 |
| South West | £1,545 | £1,295 – £1,783 | 308 |
| North West | £1,545 | £1,240 – £1,700 | 385 |
| Wales | £1,535 | £1,240 – £1,695 | 159 |
| Scotland | £1,498 | £1,240 – £1,745 | 234 |
| North East | £1,478 | £1,240 – £1,650 | 136 |
Chain vs. independent pricing
Median direct cremation and median attended funeral fee, grouped by ownership.
| Ownership | Median direct cremation | Median attended funeral | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| co-op | £1,240 | £3,265 | 492 |
| unknown | £1,550 | £2,915 | 1010 |
| independent | £1,575 | £2,510 | 841 |
| dignity | £1,645 | £2,795 | 468 |
| funeral_partners | £2,050 | £3,240 | 158 |
Methodology
All prices are sourced from each funeral director’s own CMA Standardised Price List, the format mandated by the Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021. Where multiple branches operate under one corporate banner, each branch is included as a separate observation. Medians are computed as the 50th percentile across the latest captured snapshot per provider. Regions follow the ONS region of each provider's local authority, the same grouping as the regional answers pages. The full data documentation, including field definitions and update cadence, is published at /about/data.
Figures as at 2026-09-30, the close of Q3 2026, and fixed: this page does not change as newer prices are captured. The snapshot was assembled on 2026-11-10 from the capture date carried by each price, rather than being fixed on the day the quarter closed — exact, but recorded here because it is a different claim. Source: Funeral Cost Index dataset (3,497 captured price lists).
Citation
Funeral Cost Index — Q3 2026, figures as at 2026-09-30. Funeral Cost Index, Indexeli Intelligence Limited. https://www.funeralcostindex.co.uk/data/2026-q3