The rising cost of dying is being pushed onto the Election 2026 agenda, with the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand calling for political parties to address affordability, outdated legislation and the growing financial burden being placed on grieving whānau.
The association says death care is an essential service that every New Zealander will eventually need, but the costs associated with burial and cremation are increasingly putting choices beyond the reach of some families.
Recent research from the association found almost three-quarters of funeral directors believed councils were not doing enough to ensure people could be buried or cremated with dignity regardless of their financial circumstances.
The cost of saying goodbye
The financial gap facing struggling whānau is becoming increasingly apparent.
The association’s recent review found the average burial cost across the centres it examined had reached $4,359, while the maximum Work and Income Funeral Grant was $2,697.43 — leaving a gap of more than $1,600 before many other funeral expenses are considered.
Most councils increased burial and cremation charges by between 2 and 4 percent this year, but there were significant exceptions.
Marlborough increased burial and ash burial charges by 8 percent, Palmerston North increased ash burial costs by almost 10 percent, while Tauranga increased burial charges by 50 percent and ash burial charges by 200 percent.
Funeral directors report families are increasingly responding by choosing cremation instead of burial, reducing funeral services or seeking financial assistance.
That raises important questions for Māori, where tangihanga, burial, whakapapa, whenua and tikanga can form an integral part of grieving and farewelling tūpāpaku.
Affordability is therefore not simply about finding the cheapest option. It can also determine whether whānau are able to farewell someone in a way that reflects their cultural practices and wishes.
Funeral law also under scrutiny
Cost is only part of the industry’s concern.
The Funeral Directors Association has previously called for completion of the long-running review of the Burial and Cremation Act, arguing New Zealand’s regulatory framework needs to be modernised.
It wants changes including a more realistic Funeral Grant, consideration of higher asset-testing exemptions and legislation capable of accommodating emerging alternatives to conventional burial and cremation.
The association has argued that existing legislation can prevent consideration of newer approaches already available overseas, including water cremation and human composting.
Election challenge: who pays?
The issue also intersects with the wider debate over local government funding.
Councils provide much of the country’s cemetery and burial infrastructure, but increasing charges can shift more of that cost directly onto families at one of the most difficult moments of their lives.
Funeral homes can also end up carrying council costs themselves. An association survey found 80 percent of respondents occasionally or regularly had to carry those costs because council invoices became due before payment had been received from the family.
That leaves Election 2026 with another cost-of-living question that receives considerably less attention than groceries, petrol, power or housing.
What happens when the cost people cannot afford is the cost of dying?
For whānau Māori in particular, the challenge for political parties will be demonstrating how affordability can be improved without forcing families to compromise tikanga, tangihanga or the dignity of their final farewell.
The Funeral Directors Association wants death care treated as a serious election issue.
With burial costs already outstripping the maximum government assistance available to struggling families, the debate is increasingly about whether dignity in death is becoming something determined by the size of a whānau’s bank balance.
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