Do you need to organise a funeral in Livingston or West Lothian?
It’s difficult to know what to do when someone close to you passes away regardless of your circumstances. With the average funeral costing nearly £4,000 many now find themselves in a position where they feel they have nowhere to turn due to such prohibitive costs.
The first thing to note is you are not alone. There is help out there and several options available to you. We’ve put together some brief information below to get you started.
Advice and support for funeral costs in Livingston and West Lothian
Scottish Government Funeral Support Payment
(Formerly known as DWP Funeral Payment)
WHO CAN APPLY FOR THIS BEREAVEMENT PAYMENT?
Applicants who are closest to the deceased family member must already be receiving benefits such as universal credit, disability allowance or income support.
WHAT DOES THE PAYMENT COVER?
The payment has three elements:
- Burial or cremation costs
- A flat rate payment towards other expenses for example, funeral director fees, coffin, flowers.
- Certain transport costs
What if I am not on any benefits? Can I get help with funeral costs?
Organisations who can advise you include:
Quaker Social Action Down to Earth
A unique service which aims to ensure no one faces unnecessary debt or distress due to high funeral costs.
With offices based across Scotland, Citizens Advice can advise you of any financial help or support available.
We are a not for profit funeral directors set up to fight funeral poverty and to stop people getting into unnecessary funeral debt. For more information on what we offer – scroll down.
West Lothian Council Funeral
Sometimes referred to as a “paupers funeral”.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to arrange funerals for people who die within their boundary, where no other suitable arrangements can be made e.g. there are no relatives willing or able to arrange the funeral or where there are insufficient funds. It’s the council’s responsibility to recover the costs of the funeral from the estate of the deceased.
Each local authority has its own way of administering this kind of funeral so what is on offer depends on where you live.
Alternatives to a “traditional funeral”
Traditional funerals can cost nearly £4,000 and Funeral Directors request a deposit of anything up to £1,200 before they are able to proceed. There are other options available which are much more affordable.
One such option is Direct Cremation which costs a fraction of what a normal funeral costs and allows you to arrange your goodbyes your own way.
What is Direct Cremation?
A direct cremation is a cremation at its quickest and simplest with no funeral service, or ceremony performed beforehand. If you choose to receive the ashes then you can organise your remembrance in your own time, in your own way.
Caledonia Cremation offer direct cremation for a flat fee of £1095 including return of ashes. As a not-for-profit funeral directors set up to fight funeral poverty in Scotland, we don’t upsell and we don’t have any hidden charges. We offer a high standard of compassionate care plus help with applying for benefits if you qualify.
More information below…
What Caledonia Cremation Offers People in West Lothian
What to do when someone dies
Call us to start arrangements for a direct cremation at any time after the death of your loved one. We will give you all the information you need and take care of it for you. You will then be contacted by our specialist adviser who can help you plan a personalised send-off for your loved one.
We know that funeral costs can be a problem. We have no hidden extra charges and you don’t need to pay us before making the arrangements.
When you are ready, we will explain how to register the death and tell you whether you need to contact any other officials.
You won’t ever need to travel to our office, we will come to you when needed. As we work hard to make things easy for you, we can normally do it over the phone. Please remember that there is no service at the crematorium for a direct cremation.
Many people opt for the ashes to be scattered in the crematorium’s Garden of Remembrance, others would prefer to collect them or have the ashes returned. We will ask you about all your preferences at the right time, you don’t need to know everything just yet. We do charge a little extra to return ashes because we cover such as large geographic area.
There is more detailed information about practicalities on our FAQ page.
You don’t need to make any payments until you have spoken to us or signed a contract. We also don’t need a deposit if you can’t afford it. But if we have asked you to make a payment, you can do so on our payments page.
Price list
This is easy. We don’t really need a price list as our prices are so transparent and simple. But because we lobby for disreputable For-Profit funeral to present a simple price list (only 30% of them do so currently) we thought we better do the same!
Cremations
Direct cremation including all fees, care and coffin – £1095
This includes: collection from home, nursing home, hospital or elsewhere, all transport, care of the deceased person at our funeral home, support/advice, fees to the crematorium (our biggest cost), coffins and a basic ashes casket. We choose which crematorium to use, which is the award-winning Clyde Coast & Garnock Valley Crematorium unless you strongly wish to pay more for a local crematorium which you may wish to discuss with us. Everyone using our service gets an appropriately sized Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) approved, sustainably sourced plain pine coffin – this is because we believe in environmental protection and an equal-for-all approach.
Return of Ashes
You have the choice of whether to have the ashes scattered on your behalf at the crematorium, collecting the ashes from us at the crematorium or having us meet you to return the ashes to your home.
Return of ashes to you (anywhere in Scotland) – £95
Collection of ashes from a Glasgow Crematorium at an appointed time – £0
Ashes scattered on your behalf – £0
Collection and temporary care only (e.g. before donation to medical science)
Sometimes you need an urgent collection or need time to sort out what sort of funeral is wanted. Some people need time to investigate whether and how their relative’s body may be donated to medical science. Caledonia Cremation can come to your home, a nursing home, a hospital or elsewhere straight away then provide care for you and care for your loved one. This is a no-commitment collection – basically you are just paying our deposit – while we provide care in our refrigerated facility until another funeral director or the university collects from us (we are based in Glasgow). If you choose to go ahead with a cremation with us then the cost of this is waived and included in our standard price. This is an unusual situation and we will always send you confirmation of costs in advance.
Collection care / medical science collection (less than 100 mile round-trip) – £100
Collection care / medical science collection (more than 100 miles round-trip) – £1 per mile
Coffins
Everyone using our service gets the coffin as part of the standard charge without needing to pay a penny more. If you would like to purchase one of our coffins without having a cremation with us, you can do so for £100. Contact us and we will show you pictures and specifications of our FCS sustainably sourced unvarnished plain pine coffins.
Extras
Please don’t feel under any pressure to pay any more for extras such as caskets/urns, scattering tubes, plaques etc. It is entirely up to you and we won’t upsell you anything. However, we are frequently asked about these extras so wanted to present some options below. Do just discuss these or other items you would like and we will can source and provide them as part of our service.
Standard wooden casket with name plaque – £100
Scattering tube – £50
Making payments
You don’t need to make any payments until you have spoken to us or signed a contract. We also don’t need a deposit if you can’t afford it, we ask for a £100 deposit if you can afford it and normally ask that the balance be settled before the cremation date. But if we have asked you to make a payment, you can do so on our payments page.
For those planning their own funeral
We really strongly support people choosing to plan ahead for their own funeral. This is a great step and we are happy to help you with it if you are interested in having a not-for-profit direct cremation with Caledonia Cremation.
We hope to launch pre-pay funeral plans soon. Use the “keep in touch” tab on the right for email updates about this. We do offer a “Registration of Wishes”. This is a formal document with copies kept both with your will (or other documents) and kept by us. It sets out exactly what you want so your family don’t need to worry about it when you are gone.
Unlike pre-pay funerals, in a Registration of Wishes you don’t give us the money though. If you can afford it, you give a £50 donation as we process your Registration of Wishes. This reflects the significant costs of providing Registration Of Wishes and also that we are disadvantaged by doing the right thing for you rather than take your cash.
We do provide an alternate simple payment option for people facing terminal illness, palliative care or similar circumstances – just ask at any time.
Dying outside Scotland or on Scottish Islands
Please note that, with a few exceptions, our service offer is for those who have died in mainland Scotland. However, we have partners in England and Wales, just get in touch by phone to discuss your needs.
Everyone is free to speak to us anytime if unsure.
Our commitment to excellence and dignity means we cannot be certain that we can meet our high standards if dependent on ferries and weather meaning that if on the Scottish Islands you will be better served by a local funeral director.
*Our phone number is either free or the same as a local number, depending on your phone provider. Our staff can call you back if you prefer or you can get in touch by email. We normally answer anytime 24/7, but if you call outside working hours you may be asked to leave a message and someone will get back to you.
