Priced out of being buried – a shocking revelation

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

The cost of being buried in Powys is impacting demand, it has been revealed after a £95,000 budget loss is expected by the relevant council department.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Finance Panel, councillors and independent lay members questioned the performance of the 2025/2026 council budget during the first quarter.

As it stood at the end of July, the council was predicting a surplus of just under £2.2 million on its £367 million budget by the end of next March.

Several councillors noted that within the report, the council’s grave digging section, which is part of the Highways, Transport and Recycling portfolio, is forecast an overspend by £95,000 this year.

Due to this, the department is asking for the shortfall to be covered by a money transfer from the risk budget, known as a virement – and will be among a number of these transfers for senior Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors to agree at a Cabinet meeting later this month.

Cllr Danny Bebb (Liberal Democrat – Churchstoke) asked: “I was wondering what led to a £95,000 overspend on grave digging?”

Head of Planning and Regulatory Services, Gwilym Davies, explained: “We’ve increased the fees in our cemeteries to cover the costs, trying to become cost neutral.

“We’re now one of the highest charging authorities for cemeteries in Wales, if not the highest, but the demand is not there, it’s decreasing. We’re not actually securing the income targets that we predicted we would get. We’re also seeing less people having traditional burials.”

Due to this, Mr Davies sad that the department would need to look at “alternative ways” of delivering savings.

Cllr Bebb asked for clarification, wondering whether the costs were coming from maintaining the cemeteries if fewer graves are being dug due to falling demand.

Mr Davies said: “There’s two kind of costs – the overall maintenance and running of the cemeteries, and then the grave digging.”

Cllr Chris Walsh (Labour – Brecon East) said: “That was quite helpful, because I just had someone contact me, concerned about the costs of graves and asking for an explanation.”

The committee noted the report which will go on to be discussed by the Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet at a meeting later this month.

Powys council runs 18 cemeteries throughout the county.

For more detail on burial fees visit:

https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/5190/Burials-Licence-fees-and-charges