Moray Council confirms burial charges for 2024/25

Income for burial services is made up of internment charges, lair charges and other fees, such as lair transfers. Previously this was not set at a level that covered the council’s full costs to provide the service.

The local authority updated its charging policy in late 2023 with a decision to set the default increase for 2024/25 at 5.7%.

The full cost of providing a service is defined as covering the on-going revenue costs associated with the provision of the burial service, which includes, staffing costs, materials costs, vehicle costs and administration costs.

In comparison with all 32 local authorities in Scotland, with first being the highest, Moray ranks as 8^th for full interment charges; 17^th for ashes interments charges; 21^st for lair charges; and 14^th for ashes plot charges. These rankings are largely expected to stay the same with the new charges.

Council Leader, Cllr Kathleen Robertson, said after the full council meeting: “At the most sensitive time, when a family is grieving, it’s hard to consider the financial impact of what’s happening. We don’t want to add further distress at an already difficult time, however there are costs to the council and we’ve set our charges at cost recovery only to cover this.

“I would encourage anyone struggling with the cost of funerals and burials to look into their eligibility for the Funeral Support Payment, a service administered by Social Security Scotland to help at the most difficult of times.”

New charges (excl. VAT) agreed will be available online:-