The Cost of Dying in the UK: The Data

The average total UK funeral spend was £5,140 in 2026, made up of a simple attended funeral costing £3,828 and send-off extras of £1,312, according to SunLife's long-running Cost of Dying Report (SunLife Cost of Dying Report 2026, published 7 January 2026, subject to change).

The "cost of dying" is more than the funeral. It also covers the professional and administrative work of settling an estate, such as probate, and, for a minority of estates, inheritance tax. This piece gathers the most authoritative figures from named sources: SunLife's annual study as a clearly-attributed secondary source for funeral and send-off costs, HMRC statistics for inheritance tax, and gov.uk for the probate application fee. It sits within our estate planning guide, alongside our note on what to do after someone dies. Every figure carries its source and reference period, figures are current as at July 2026 and subject to change, and nothing here is advice on any individual situation.

The headline cost of dying numbers

A UK funeral cost £5,140 on average in 2026 once send-off extras are counted, with a simple attended funeral at £3,828 and a direct cremation, the lowest-cost option, at £1,628 (SunLife Cost of Dying Report 2026, published 7 January 2026, subject to change). Beyond the funeral, settling an estate through probate carries a gov.uk application fee of £300 where the estate is worth more than £5,000, with no fee at or below that level (gov.uk, applying for probate: fees, as at July 2026, subject to change). Inheritance tax applies only to a minority of estates, but where it does the sums are far larger: HMRC recorded £6.70 billion of IHT liabilities created on deaths in the 2022 to 2023 tax year (HMRC Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics, published 31 July 2025, subject to change).

Key figures at a glance

The cost of dying spans three broadly separate categories: the funeral itself, the cost of administering the estate, and, for taxable estates only, inheritance tax. The table below sets out each statistic with its source and reference period. These come from different studies and years, so they are best read as separate reference points rather than a single running total for any one estate.

Sources: SunLife Cost of Dying Report 2026 (published 7 January 2026), gov.uk applying for probate: fees, HMRC tax and NICs receipts annual bulletin (updated 19 June 2026), and HMRC Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics (published 31 July 2025). Figures as at July 2026 and subject to change.

Probate and estate administration

Settling an estate carries its own costs, separate from the funeral. In England and Wales the probate application fee is £300 where the estate is worth more than £5,000, with no fee at or below £5,000, and extra copies of the grant cost £16 each (gov.uk, applying for probate: fees, as at July 2026, subject to change). That fixed fee is often the smaller part of the picture: many estates also pay for professional help with the administration, most commonly a solicitor or probate specialist, and those professional fees vary widely with the size and complexity of the estate rather than being set by a fixed scale.

The process itself is set out in our note on What Is Probate?. Scotland uses a different system, called confirmation, with its own court fees, and Northern Ireland has its own probate rules, so the England and Wales fee above does not carry across. Not every estate needs a grant at all; where one is needed, the £300 application fee applies once the estate is over the £5,000 threshold (gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change).

Inheritance tax: large sums for a minority

Inheritance tax is the part of the cost of dying that reaches the largest amounts, but it affects only a small share of estates. HMRC statistics show 4.62% of UK deaths in the 2022 to 2023 tax year resulted in an inheritance tax charge, around 31,500 estates out of 683,000 deaths, generating £6.70 billion of liabilities created that year (HMRC Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics, published 31 July 2025, subject to change). Across all years, UK inheritance tax receipts reached £8.5 billion in the 2025 to 2026 financial year (HMRC tax and NICs receipts annual bulletin, updated 19 June 2026, subject to change).

Most estates pay no inheritance tax because of the tax-free allowances. Each person has a nil-rate band of £325,000, and a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 where a home passes to direct descendants, so a couple can potentially pass on up to £1,000,000 between them before tax. Anything above the available allowances is generally taxed at 40%, falling to 36% where at least 10% of the net estate is left to charity, and transfers between spouses and civil partners are generally exempt. These thresholds are frozen to the end of the 2030-31 tax year (5 April 2031) (gov.uk, How Inheritance Tax works, as at July 2026, subject to change). Reflecting those reliefs, HMRC found the average effective tax rate paid by taxpaying estates was 13%, well below the 40% headline rate (HMRC, 2022-23, published 31 July 2025, subject to change).

Sources: gov.uk How Inheritance Tax works, HMRC Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics (published 31 July 2025) and HMRC tax and NICs receipts annual bulletin (updated 19 June 2026). Figures as at July 2026 and subject to change.

Read together, the data suggests the cost of dying is layered: a funeral bill that most families face, a modest fixed probate fee plus variable professional costs for those who need a grant, and a much larger but far less common inheritance tax charge (SunLife, 7 January 2026; gov.uk, as at July 2026; HMRC, 2022-23, all subject to change). The SunLife figures are an industry study rather than official statistics, so they are treated here as a clearly-attributed secondary source. These are observations about published data, not predictions, and any individual's cost depends on the funeral chosen, whether a grant is needed, and the size and make-up of the estate.

For anyone thinking about how these costs might fall on those they leave behind, many people choose to look at the rules early and, where an estate is large enough to be within reach of inheritance tax, to discuss the available allowances and reliefs with a qualified professional. General reading such as our estate planning guide can help frame those conversations, but it is not a substitute for advice on individual circumstances. Any life policy, investment or pension arrangement is a regulated product and is best discussed with an FCA-authorised adviser.

Sources and methodology

Every statistic on this page comes from a named source and has been checked against the current published figures. The SunLife estimates are from its 2026 Cost of Dying Report and are quoted as published, as a secondary source for funeral and send-off costs. The probate fee is the current gov.uk figure for England and Wales. The inheritance tax statistics are HMRC's, covering deaths in the 2022 to 2023 tax year and receipts for 2025 to 2026. Where figures come from different years or definitions, they are not directly comparable and nothing has been estimated, extrapolated or rounded beyond the source.

• SunLife Cost of Dying Report 2026 (published 7 January 2026): the £5,140 total funeral spend, £3,828 simple attended funeral, £1,312 send-off, £1,628 direct cremation, the £3,105 to £4,897 regional range, and the 53% attended-cremation share. Used as a clearly-attributed secondary source. sunlife.co.uk
• gov.uk, applying for probate: fees (as at July 2026): the £300 probate application fee where the estate is over £5,000, no fee at or below £5,000, and £16 per extra copy. gov.uk
• HMRC Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics (published 31 July 2025): 683,000 UK deaths, 4.62% (31,500 estates) with an IHT charge, £6.70 billion of liabilities created, and the 13% average effective rate, for the 2022 to 2023 tax year. gov.uk
• HMRC tax and NICs receipts annual bulletin (updated 19 June 2026): UK inheritance tax receipts of £8.5 billion for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. gov.uk
• gov.uk, How Inheritance Tax works (as at July 2026): the £325,000 nil-rate band, up to £175,000 residence nil-rate band, 40% and 36% rates, spouse exemption, and the freeze to 2030-31. gov.uk

All figures are current as at July 2026 and are subject to change. Statistics are quoted as published; nothing on this page has been estimated, extrapolated or rounded beyond the source.

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