Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Cannot afford to die

There will be an abundance of pomp and ceremony at Thatcher’s funeral, and few in government circles will question the cost of it all since, after all, it was for one of their own. How this contrasts with the rising numbers of pauper funerals in the country. The growing figures paint a harrowing picture of people in the community dying penniless and in isolation.


Strained families are being forced to bury their dead using so-called 'pauper's funerals' because the Government is turning down almost half of those who apply for funeral payments. The Government Funeral Payment system, designed for those who need support with funeral costs, is being inundated with applications, a new report has revealed. Even for those who do get help, the typical sum awarded is £1,217, which is far short of the average £3091 cost of a funeral. A pauper’s funeral had a stigma attached to it in the old days but now it’s seen as an alternative for some families.

Kate Woodthorpe, from the University of Bath, said that it is "becoming too expensive for poor people to die". Thousands of the most vulnerable in society are being let down by a system of state support that lacks coherence and is so unclear that some applicants have to resort to alternative means to organise a funeral."
The class struggle begins with the struggle for dignity, for recognition that we are human too, and are worth celebrating and mourning, whoever we are.

This is worth remembering when Thatcher's procession winds it's way through the streets







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