COLCHESTER Council will abolish burial and crematorium fees for child funerals, it has announced.

The change will apply to funerals of children up to the age of 18, with the costs covered by a £10,000 reallocation in the council’s 2017/18 budget.

Funerals of children are usually paid by families or friends of the deceased child and can cost between £1,300 and £1,800.

Between April 2016 to March 2017, there were 58 cremations and 33 burials for children, which cost a total of £9,440.

Some funeral directors already discount child funerals or may offer bereaved families access to the services of a charity able to provide bereavement cards, orders of service, or flowers, free-of-charge or at cost price.

Colchester Cemetery and Crematorium will encourage funeral directors to pass on the abolition of its burial and cremation charges to their customers, but will continue to charge for the purchase of grave leases, headstones and cremation memorials.

Councillor Beverley Oxford, portfolio holder for customers, said: “I am so very pleased and proud that we are among the first local authorities in the country to have answered the Early Day Motion tabled in Parliament last December by waiving our charges associated with children’s funerals.

“The loss of a child is tragic and devastating, but it can also impose a significant and unexpected financial burden on traumatised parents who may struggle to pay the costs associated with their child’s funeral.

“I will shortly be writing to local funeral directors to ask them to follow our compassionate lead and abolish their fees, to help support families during what is an unbearably difficult time.”