Funeral directors say they have been left \u201chorrified\u201d by a steep price hike at a Kent crematorium \u2013 with grieving families already choosing to go elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Herne Bay Crematorium has announced it will increase the cost of peak midweek services and cremations from \u00a31,150 to \u00a31,425 from April 1 – making them among the most expensive in the UK.<\/p>\n
Herne Bay Crematorium opened in 2023. Picture: Westerleigh Group<\/p>\n
The 24% rise \u2013 far higher than increases at nearby sites \u2013 has sparked concern among undertakers, who warn it could price some families out.<\/p>\n
Nick Hardy, owner and director of Woollard and Kent Funeral Services, says the reaction within the industry has been one of shock.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of us were horrified it had gone up so considerably, especially as other crematoriums haven\u2019t increased by as much,\u201d the 57-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the price will make a difference to people – they\u2019re not going to pay a few extra hundred pounds for very little difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s another crematorium down the road in Faversham (Memoria). Clients are naturally going to go there because it\u2019s cheaper, and we\u2019ve absolutely seen an increase in people choosing that instead.<\/p>\n
Nick Hardy is the owner and director of Woollard & Kent Funeral Services. Picture: Woollard & Kent Funeral Services<\/p>\n
\u201cThey both have very similar facilities, and Memoria also offers 90 minutes for a service compared to an hour at Herne Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crematorium, which opened in 2023, is owned by Westerleigh Group, which runs more than 40 sites nationwide.<\/p>\n
The only others in Kent are in Barham and Charing, where fees will also increase to \u00a31,425, but from \u00a31,250, so the hikes are not as steep.<\/p>\n
However, equivalent services at other Westerleigh sites in England, Scotland and Wales will cost as little as \u00a31,225.<\/p>\n
By contrast, rival sites nearby remain significantly cheaper.<\/p>\n
Memoria Faversham Crematorium will charge \u00a31,095 from April 1 \u2013 a 10% increase from \u00a3995 \u2013 while Thanet Crematorium is rising by just 4% to \u00a31,120.<\/p>\n
Crematorium fees for peak midweek services are going up on April 1<\/p>\n
Both offer comparable services, with Memoria also providing longer 90-minute slots.<\/p>\n
Further afield in Kent, the cost drops even further, with Medway Crematorium increasing its fees on April 6 by just \u00a335 (4%) to \u00a3855.<\/p>\n
The price relates to peak weekday services, which funeral directors say are the most in demand.<\/p>\n
John Wells, of Beltinge and District Funeral Services in Herne Bay, says he expects bereaved families to choose to go elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cHerne Bay has this increase, and that\u2019s their decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re fortunate that we can offer people a choice of going to other crematoria at a far reduced cost.<\/p>\n
John Wells, of Beltinge and District Funeral Services, says it is lucky families have a choice to go elsewhere<\/p>\n
\u201cThe changes at Herne Bay are quite the increase in one go. It\u2019s going to make life difficult for some families, for sure. It\u2019s a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Herne Bay Crematorium said it offers \u201c70 weekly service options\u201d, with more than 35% set to be either unchanged in price or reduced.<\/p>\n
KentOnline was unable to identify any directly comparable one-hour services that will be cheaper than current prices from April 1, with any reduced in price also cut in length to 30 minutes from an hour.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson added that \u201cjust 12 services\u201d \u2013 peak midweek slots between Monday and Wednesday \u2013 will see the full 24% increase, affecting about 17% of all services.<\/p>\n
However, its new pricing sheet shows some other services will rise in cost by as much as 15%.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said: \u201cThese changes reflect sustained external cost pressures, including increases in National Insurance, wages, business rates and rent, energy volatility, and high supplier costs for maintenance and essential consumables – all outside our control.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognise any increase is difficult at such a sensitive time. Our focus has been on protecting choice, with a wide range of service options still available, and most audio-visual personalisation prices held.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur priority remains supporting families with transparency, flexibility and exceptional care.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Funeral directors say they have been left \u201chorrified\u201d by a steep price hike at a Kent crematorium \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,980,648,59,2759,192,191,2555,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-497955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-canterbury","tag-faversham","tag-gb","tag-herne-bay","tag-human-interest","tag-kent","tag-thanet","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}