A council has received backlash after being accused of levelling a “fat tax” after charging higher fees for wider burial plots at one of its cemeteries.
Those burying loved ones at Danescourt Cemetery in Wolverhampton will have to fork out £2,700, meaning they are facing a 20 per cent increase on the cost of a standard five-foot grave if they wish to buy a six-foot-wide plot.
A Wolverhampton Council spokesman said the additional charge was implemented after the demand for larger graves rose.
In 2021, the city had a 33.3 per cent obesity rate – which is the most recent data.
However, the national average in the same year was 25.9 per cent.
Fourth-generation Funeral Director at Hickton Family Funeral Directors Ross Hickton told The Telegraph: “Essentially it’s a fat tax”.
Danescourt Cemetery in Wolverhampton
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“Families are already going through enough when they’re bereaved,” he said.
“People have paid into the system their whole lives and paid local council tax, and now they’re being slapped with another tax at the point of death just due to their size.”
While acknowledging that grave space was limited, he said the council had a “duty of care” to local residents to ensure burial space was provided while catering to religions and cultures that practise burial.
He said the decision to dedicate an area to larger people was a further concern for families if they required both a 5ft and 6ft graves.
The cemetery has a separate section for larger graves
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“It’s truly shocking. There is no empathy, no care,” Hickton added.
“The council doesn’t understand the process and the emotional toll it takes on families.”
A National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) members survey found that a quarter of 165 respondents agreed with charging more for wider plots.
Chief Executive Terry Tennens said SAIF was “extremely concerned about Wolverhampton council’s plans”.
“The discriminatory nature of the fat tax is bad enough,” he said.
“What’s really worrying is the idea of creating a separate area for obese people in Danescourt Cemetery.
“This could cause serious distress to bereaved people who have planned for family members to rest in peace together.”
Tennens called on Wolverhampton Council to reconsider the move.
He also urged other councils, considering a similar move, to “think carefully about the upset they are likely to cause”.
Wolverhampton Council said other local authorities just like Birmingham and Walsall also charged a higher fee for larger burial plots.
The council added that graves in Wolverhampton were similar or even cheaper than neighbouring areas.
