MP welcomes change in council's burial policy

MORAY Council's decision to change non-residential burial fees has been welcomed by the region's MP.

Douglas Ross MP had raised the issue after being contacted by the relatives of a deceased Moray woman who had spent 95 years of her life resident in the region, only for them to find out that because she had to move out of Moray for the final few months of her life to receive appropriate care, that they would have to pay the full non-resident burial fees.

At their meeting earlier today, the local authority's economic growth, housing and environmental sustainability committee agreed to change the charging structure for non-residential burial fees in Moray.

Mr Ross said: “I am pleased that common sense has prevailed in this case and we have managed to address this very unfair situation.

"Just because in the last days of her life an elderly woman had to go and live with family in Aberdeen, Moray Council wanted the relatives to pay £1709 for a non-Moray resident's burial, as opposed to £931.

"The extra payment of £778 was distressing for the family when they should have been focussing on grieving.

“It beggars belief that we had such a system in place whereby a resident of Moray for 95 years is deemed not entitled to a local Moray burial charge, because through no fault of their own they had to spend the last few days of their life out with Moray”.

Conservative Council leader Tim Eagle (Buckie) commented: “I was flabbergasted when I was made aware of this unfair burial charge and working with colleagues I am delighted that we were in a position to address this anomaly at today’s committee meeting.

“It was a sad reflection on us all as a local authority that such an anomaly existed in the first place, but I am pleased that colleagues across parties have now addressed this very sensitive issue.”