Iran war driving up funeral costs in the UK

Average traditional funeral now costs £4,623, up 1.3% since January, says report from Pure Cremation The war in Iran is pushing up the cost of living in the UK but it is also driving up the “cost of dying” as higher gas prices feed through to funerals. A report has found the average cost of a funeral in Britain is running ahead of inflation, with the war seemingly partly to blame as it has pushed up the price of gas used in crematoriums. The average traditional funeral now costs £4,623, which is up 1.3%, or £61, since January, according to the study of more than 270 funeral directors across England, Scotland and Wales. That is estimated to be well above the rate of inflation for the same period, said the funeral provider Pure Cremation, which published the research. The data showed that the cost of a cremation funeral “has risen more sharply than a burial funeral,” which the study said was “likely [to be] linked to the rising cost of fuel as a result of the Iran war”. The average cremation is now £4,293 – up 1.4% on January’s figure. Meanwhile the average burial is up by 1% to £6,129. The Bank of England said that between December 2025 and February this year (the most recent month