IT COSTS on average more than £800 more to be buried in Poole than in Bournemouth, new figures show.

Despite the boroughs merging to form BCP Council, figures from the Royal London investment company show a large disparity in average costs between the two areas although there is just £57 difference in the cost of cremation.

According to Royal London the south west is actually one of the cheapest areas in which to die in the UK with the average funeral cost being £3,586, less than half the price of a London burial which will set families back by more than £6,000.

The cheapest place in the south west to hold a funeral, at an average £3,206, is Bridgewater in Somerset. The most expensive is Westerleigh in Gloucestershire.

The most expensive place in the UK to be buried is at Kensal Rise in North London where a burial costs more than £13,000.

Commenting on the findings, Royal London’s funeral cost expert, Louise Eaton-Terry, said: “As bereaved families continue to take on thousands of pounds of debt to pay for their loved ones’ funerals, support from the state remains woefully inadequate. The government have tinkered around the edges and made some improvements to the Funeral Expenses Payment benefit, but the fact remains that the fund does not cover the full cost of a simple funeral. The value of the fund is seriously lacking with no serious action being taken to increase it and help support the bereaved who are being crippled with funeral debt.”