Bodies of the dead are not being buried as effects of credit crunch

The spectre of the Winter of Discontent threatened to return to haunt Labour last night after funeral directors revealed that the burial of 'hundreds' of bodies is being delayed for financial reasons.

In a bleak new sign of the growing economic crisis, hard-up families are having to wait more than two months before receiving Government money for funerals.

Organizations representing undertakers accused the Government of putting them in an 'impossible' position by dragging their feet over burial costs for poor families.

Previously, undertakers would pay for the cost of funerals and wait to be reimbursed by the State, but the lack of credit in the banking system means many firms can no longer afford to do so.

The Tories have demanded an emergency Commons debate on the issue.

The row has ominous echoes of the Winter of Discontent in the dying days of the last Labour Government 30 years ago, when economic problems led to rubbish piling up in the streets and bodies lying unburied - symbols of political failure that did lasting damage to the party.

The current problems stem from delays to payouts from the Department for Work and Pensions' Social Fund, which helps needy families with burial costs.

If authorized, they receive funeral costs up to a maximum of £700, plus additional sums averaging around £1,000.

About 27,000 people claim a total of £46million for burials every year.

But one leading chain of undertakers said there had been an increase in the time it took payments to go through.

And John Weir, of the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, said the delays were putting undertakers in an 'impossible' position because many could not afford to carry out burials until the money arrived from the Government.

'There are hundreds of people in this situation,' he said. 'Funeral directors are having to take a more commercial approach in these troubled times.

'The normal gap between death and burial is about ten days, but the Government's stance means it can be more like five weeks and sometimes longer.

'In these economic conditions, many directors now look to get payment in advance. The Government is behind the delays and the hardship it is causing both families and funeral directors is very real.'

They qualify if they can prove they are receiving benefits, were closely related to the deceased and do not have sufficient savings to meet the funeral costs.