Grieving families told to pay £55 to watch funerals online
The controversial plans have been approved by Isle of Wight councillors
Last updated 10th Mar 2022
A controversial plan from the Isle of Wight Council to charge grieving families watching a funeral online is going ahead — breaking a promise given to members.
Announced last night (March 9th), the hike in fees for cremations and burials on the Island will be frozen while the authority undertakes a commercial review of the bereavement services.
However, not all the fee increases were paused. Cllr Chris Jarman, the cabinet member for strategic finances, confirmed the £55 fee to live-stream a service held at the Isle of Wight Crematorium, in Whippingham, would go ahead.
Throughout the Covid pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns, the number of loved ones, family members and friends at funerals was hugely restricted.
On the Island, this led to the introduction of online live streams so those who were unable to attend in person could say goodbye to their loved one virtually.
Between July 2020, when the service went live, and December 2021, 1,221 services, or 40.4 per cent of the 3,026 held at the Crematorium, have been live-streamed, free of charge.
Previously the authority argued the live-stream has helped mourning relatives and friends feel part of the services they could not attend.
From April 1 though, the discretionary pay-to-view service will start — breaking a promise to councillors it would not be a ‘back door decision’.
Cllr Andrew Garratt raised the issue at the council’s February meeting when he had proposed to scrap the fee but withdrew the amendments to the Alliance’s budget only after getting assurances and promises it would go through public consultation and further council scrutiny.
It is thought the streaming would generate £30,000.
The Alliance group had said introducing the fee would help cover the cost of running and maintaining the system, the licenses required to stream and also updating the equipment as technology advances.
How do those figures break down?
The initial set-up costs of the service were covered by government money the authority received to pay for Covid-related costs — this included the equipment, cabling, infrastructure and licences for the streaming website, a council spokesperson confirmed.
In figures obtained by the local democracy reporting service in a Freedom of Information request, the authority spent £2,040.96 in 2020 to get the service up and running.
The only fee the council has paid since then is £840 for the streaming licence, once a year.
Until March 31, 2023, the entire cost to the council for the live streaming service is forecasted to be £3,720.96.
At a £55 fee, the Isle of Wight Council would only have to stream 68 services to get its money back.
On average, 68 services have been live-streamed per month since the facility was introduced — which means the council could make its money back in a month.
The only cost to have increased for the council so far is the video licence fee online, which has gone up £33.60 since 2020.
If the council had charged for the 1,221 streamed services held between July 2020 and December 2021, it would have made £67,155.