A HEARTBROKEN mother stands beside the open grave of her two-year-old daughter who is destined for a ‘pauper’s funeral’.

But as the pony and trap carrying her little body to St John’s churchyard in Southend arrives, the mother is horrified to see the cart driver is using her daughter’s coffin as a footstool.

Worse still, when he attempts to lift the coffin out of the cart, the driver almost drops it.When they do manage get it to the grave it is evident the coffin is too big and won’t fit. The mother stands there sobbing for 15 minutes while the grave-diggers toil with their shovels to expand the grave. This sad story really happened in Southend in 1892 to a little girl named Clair Crane. And it was by no means a one-off.

History shows us, when it comes to disposing of the poorest in society, few people have cared about how respectfully it has been done – while many have been concerned about the cost. There was a well-known saying of the time “rattle his bones over the stones, for he is only a pauper.”

‘Paupers’ funerals’, as they have been called since Victorian Times have thankfully shaken off much of their stigma in today’s society. But they are still being performed.

Instead, today they are known as Public Health Funerals. And with Covid-19 causing the deaths of thousands of people - and with the average funeral now costing more than £5,000 - figures show more people than ever are being thrust into funeral poverty and therefore turning to the council to help with covering costs.

There has been a 70 per cent increase nationwide in the funerals since 2015 meaning more councils are now having to foot the bill for funerals where nobody else is willing or can afford to pay.

When councils do pay out for a PHF they always attempt to claw back the money – either from the deceased’s estate or by tracing relatives, often using heir-hunters and genealogists. If there is nothing in the deceased estate or nobody can be found, the entire cost comes out of the council coffers.

Figures show that from 2019-2020 Southend Council was asked to assist with 41 public health funerals– but out of these they managed to trace the next of kin or someone else took over the payment for 19 of them.

The other 22 the council had to pay for in entirety.

By comparison, Basildon Council, since the pandemic began in April 2020 and up until this month, has shelled out £15,376 on 12 PHFs. It provided 21 in total but recovered the money for the entire costs of nine through the deceased estates. The previous year- from April 2019 to March 2020, it had to meet the entire cost of nine PHFs in the district.

People on certain benefits can apply for help in paying for a loved one’s funeral through a government social fund in order to avoid a PHF.

Southend Councillor Martin Terry said: “Given the financial challenges many people are facing due to the pandemic, we may see an increase in the number of public health funerals we carry out, but I would urge residents to seek alternative support through the Gov.UK website in the first instance.”