It doesn't pay to die in Worcester

Increasing burial and cremation charges is just one of the ways Worcester City Council hopes to bridge the multi-million pound gap in its budget by the Government's announcement of a real-terms cut in the city's funding.

The council believes it is currently under-charging for its cemetery and crematorium facilities, and that, combined with a recent rise in the number of people using the services, raising prices should bring in an extra £60,000 a year.

The officer in charge of cleaner and greener, Mike Harrison, told a meeting of the budget scrutiny committee: "I'm actually amazed by how much money the cemetery and crematorium bring in.

"We've got a very captive audience there, and I wonder if we could look at marketing the service more."

The planned price hikes were attacked by Labour councillor Roger Berry, who said: "Isn't this penalising the most vulnerable people in society?

"At this critical point in their lives, we're saying 'lets get more money out of them'.

"Don't die in Worcester' - that's what we're saying."

But Tory council leader Councillor Simon Geraghty insisted the increases would merely bring charges up to the level set by other councils.

"We've looked at other comparable authorities' charges for crematorium facilities, and said that's the benchmark," he said.

"If we're dramatically out of step with other authorities then we need to address that."

The city hopes to make the majority of its savings - around £1m over the coming years - by sharing many of its services with neighbouring district councils.

Coun Geraghty left the committee in no doubt about the scale of the job ahead.

"This has to be a major exercise - a complete organisational review," he said.

"We're in negotiations with the other councils, but there are no guarantees this is going to work.

"But if it's not possible to make these savings in this way, the council will have to make some pretty radical decisions in the next budget."