Funeral staff fighting for a living

STAFF at funeral chain Dignity were startled to hear chief executive Peter Hindley claim they were not motivated by money - just weeks after he had pocketed £1 million.

There were some less than dignified responses from funeral directors across the country who claim they are underpaid, overworked and miserable, particularly after the annual pay round that, they claim, left some of them a half% better off. One said: 'Dignity staff are among the lowest paid in the country. A funeral service operative or funeral service arranger based on a 40-hour week will be lucky to get £11,000 a year before deductions.'

Their situation worsened in January when Dignity said they would no longer receive commissions for selling floral tributes, urns for ashes and orders of service.

One supplier of floral tributes to Dignity claims staff used to get 5% on each sale. 'When you are taking home £1,200 a month, the extra £50 or so made a difference,' she said. 'I know a friend at Dignity with 15 years' service who earns £6.20 an hour.'

Hindley, who retained shares worth £2 million when Dignity floated on the stock market earlier this month, insists that staff are not badly paid and received an average 3% pay rise last year.

'There may be people paid £11,000, but that rate is probably in a provincial area,' he said. 'We pay an average wage.' He rejected claims that the market leader, Co-operative Funeral Services, and independent funeral houses paid staff more - or, as one Dignity employee put it: 'They drive Mercedes while we make do with Ford Fiestas.'

Hindley said: 'Many staff have free or subsidised accommodation and receive out-of-hours payments. This year we increased holidays from 20 to 22 days, and we still operate a final-salary pension scheme that costs us a lot.'