PAUPERS' funerals have cost Bradford Council £77,224 in the financial year 2017/18, a mutual insurer has found.

Bradford Council's spend on their public health funerals was the seventh highest in the country.

The total cost of public health funerals across the UK in 2017/18 was £5,382,379, according to Royal London, which received responses from 275 local authorities to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

Public health funerals, which are also known as paupers' funerals, are "no frills" services provided by the local authority, which in general include a coffin and the services of a funeral director but do not include flowers, obituaries or transport for family members. Families can attend if they wish.

More than 3,800 such funerals were carried out across the UK last year, costing councils an average of £1,403.

Birmingham City Council in West Midlands spent the most last year, with public health funerals costing it £990,437.

Royal London said the average cost of a basic funeral is £3,757.

Other reasons for public health funerals included the deceased having no family, and families unwilling to pay for the funeral.

The amount spent by local authorities on public health funerals in 2017-18 increased by 3.5 per cent compared with 2016-17, according to the research, based on those councils who provided data for both financial years.

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: "Sadly, each year we see a number of people across the Bradford District who die, with neither family nor friends available to arrange a funeral for them, nor any estate of their own to provide for it.

"In these circumstances it is the Council’s legal duty to arrange a funeral, under the public health act.

"We take care to provide a funeral which affords people the proper dignity that is due, to mark their passing.

"Bradford District is the fifth largest metropolitan district in England in terms of population.

"While it is tragic that any person would be left without family, friends or their own means to provide for a funeral, the amount spent in our district on these funerals is proportionate with the size of our population.

"People should also be aware that help is available for relatives who cannot afford to pay for a funeral.

"Family members can apply for a government ‘funeral expenses payment’ towards the cost of their relative’s funeral if they are on certain benefits including income support, housing benefit and universal credit, and if no-one else in the family is in work and able to pay for the funeral."