LAST RIGHTS - FUNERALS, POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION

This article considers the current state of help with funeral expenses in Britain. It argues that assistance has been progressively and deli berately eroded to the point where the famous 'from the cradle to the grave' protection of the welfare state has been removed from increasin g numbers of poor people. The article sets these developments within t he context of the contemporary British funeral industry, with emphasis upon its treatment of less-well-off consumers. The changing nature of social security provision for funeral expenses is traced in detail, i ncluding the actions of the incoming 1997 Labour government, This arti cle investigates the pubic health role of local authorities in the cas e of burials, concluding that such services are insufficiently robust to meet the new weight placed upon them, The article ends with a consi deration of the impact which these different changes produce in the li ves of individuals upon whom they have an effect.