Labour Party calls on Banbury council to scrap child burial fees

Labour Party councillors are calling for Banbury Town Council to scrap burial fees for children under 15 years of age.
Labour councillor Sean Woodcock wants burial fees for children under 15 scrapped. Photo: Banbury and Bicester Labour PartyLabour councillor Sean Woodcock wants burial fees for children under 15 scrapped. Photo: Banbury and Bicester Labour Party
Labour councillor Sean Woodcock wants burial fees for children under 15 scrapped. Photo: Banbury and Bicester Labour Party

Ruscote councillor Sean Woodcock, who is proposing the motion at the council meeting on Tuesday (February 20), said he hoped for cross-party support.

“The pain of losing a child must be the most terrible grief that there is," he said.

"Yet at this time when citizens are arguably at their lowest ebb, councils up and down the country are continuing to charge for burials.

"There is now a growing consensus across the political spectrum that this should stop and that is why I am submitting this motion in the hope of achieving cross-party support.”

For 2017/18, it costs £35 to bury a baby a month old or younger, £55 for a child aged month-old to four-years-old, £80 for a child aged between five and 11 years-old, £385 over-12s and £35 for child ashes.

From April, the prices go up by £5 for all except five to 11 year-olds which will stay the same and over-12s which will go up by £10.

Cllr Woodcock's motion says: “This council commits in principle to scrapping burial charges and fees for children 15 and under by the time of implementing a budget for 2019/20 and asks officers to report on the cost and other implications."