TOWN Hall chiefs at Warrington are being asked to approve a policy on burial fees for non-residents of the borough following a successful complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.
The aim is to inform the public of what the council’s policy is – and reduce the risk of future challenges to the council’s fee charging structure.
Current practice is for the council to give deceased people who lived in Warrington immediately prior to their death a 50 per cent discount.
But people who lived outside the borough immediately prior to their death are charged the full fee.
Reasoning behind the practice is that burial services are subsidised by the council and people who live in the borough have already contributed to this through paying Council Tax.
The successful complaint to the Ombudsman was from a man whose mother had lived in Warrington for a considerable period prior to her death and ought, he argued, in all fairness be given some credit for this.
Officers say the problem is that they have no record of when, or on what basis, the practice of differential charges were introduced. It is thought the practise started in the 1970s – but no record exists of whether it was introduced by officers, or arising from a committee decision.
Executive board members are being asked to approve a policy under which people who died after leaving the borough but who had spent 90 per cent of their lives in Warrington can qualify for the reduced fee.
