Lichfield is the most expensive place in England to bury a loved one, a study has revealed.
The Staffordshire city charges &1,270 for an interment, more than 25 times more than the £50 charged for a burial in Blaby, Leicestershire, according to Avalon Funeral Plans.
Elmbridge in Surrey is the second most expensive place in which to bury a loved one in a council-run cemetery at £1,138, followed by Lewisham, south London, where it costs £1,082, the City of London at £992 and Rushmoor in Hampshire at £968.
At the other end of the scale, it costs just £93 for an internment in Wyre in Lancashire, while burying someone costs £100 in South Bucks, £115 in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire and £129 in Hambleton in North Yorkshire.
The group said that with burial space running out, and councils looking to raise revenue, the cost of burying a loved one had increased.
It added that as well as paying for the internment, families also had to purchase the rights for a burial plot, further increasing the cost.
Mike Cooper, managing director at Avalon, said: "The top 10 list of internment fees is, unsurprisingly, dominated by boroughs in the South East and London. It just shows how a lack of space has squeezed fees to a premium."
He said 72% of the 600,000 people who died in the UK each year were cremated, with only 28% buried.
He said: "As space dwindles and fees grow, the number of burials is expected to decrease rapidly. It seems that dying has become a very expensive business.
"Whilst the traditional funeral is still part of our cultural fabric, burials are now out of reach for many of the population. It's no surprise that cremation is by far the most popular choice for funerals."
