Reclaiming the funeral industry
By Deborah Marshall, 2021
Fellow’s Profile
Fellow’s Profile
Reclaiming the funeral industry
Providing affordable funeral care through social enterprise for people in poverty
2019
North West
I am a coroner's officer with an extensive working background in bereavement services and the death certification process. I am also a qualified embalmer with significant working experience in the funeral industry.
I am passionate about the importance of good bereavement care, affordable and accessible funeral services, and consumer protection for the bereaved. And above all I am passionate about the care of deceased people.
My Fellowship tackled funeral poverty and standards of funeral care in the UK. I travelled to Canada and New Zealand in 2019 to examine the funeral industry in each country as well as the bereavement support, particularly relating to financial support, that they offer. The purpose of my Fellowship was to identify solutions to the issue of funeral costs being unaffordable for many people and to establish if regulation of the funeral industry is necessary.
My Fellowship findings were shared with the UK government and with the Competitions and Markets Authority. In December 2020 the Competitions and Markets Authority announced that it was recommending that regulation of the funeral industry is needed and that an inspection regime is necessary.
By Deborah Marshall, 2021
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
By Deborah Marshall, 2021
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.