MSPs urged to abandon 'death tax' on grieving relatives

People who are registering a death will be asked to pay a fee - expected to be around 30 - under changes that have been proposed by the Scottish Government.

But the city council's chief registrar has called for the plan, currently progressing through the Scottish Parliament, to be blocked.

Elizabeth Allan said collecting the fee at the local office would cause further upset for bereaved family members, who are already often vulnerable at such a tragic time.

In a submission to the Scottish Government on behalf of the city council, Mrs Allan said: "Relatives who come into register the death of a loved one are often upset and do not always understand fully what is being explained to them.

"If registrars are required to collect the fee in respect of the new procedures set out in this bill, within a very short period of time and regardless of any publicity or information given, the perception will be that this fee is for registering a death or a death tax.

"It seems unfair that this fee will be taken at a time when people are at their most vulnerable and not in the right frame of mind to question the payment."

Under current arrangements, people who require a cremation have to pay an additional fee, of 147, which is collected by funeral directors as part of the overall bill after a funeral takes place. But the new system will instead see all bereaved families have to pay a standard fee of around 30 at their local registrars' office when they register a death.

Mrs Allan said that it would be "far more considerate and sympathetic" if any new fee was collected in the same way as part of the funeral bill rather than at the registrars office.

Labour councillor Paul Godzik said: "As the council's evidence makes clear, this proposal is fraught with difficulties. The SNP Government needs to look at the evidence presented and move away from this.

"Certainly this is asking people to pay a fee when they are at their most vulnerable so it needs to be looked at very closely and certainly cannot be continued in the form presented. This just shows how out of touch the SNP Government has become."

The new fee will be used to pay for a team of medical reviewers appointed to scrutinise a random sample of deaths and other measures to tighten up the scrutiny of the process.

It has also been criticised by local authority representative Cosla, which said it could not support the proposal for a death certification fee to be collected by council registrars. And Alison Quigley, honorary secretary of the Association of Registrars of Scotland, said: "The collection of a fee is detrimental to the statutory registration process, which leads to the question of the registration being allowed to proceed if the informant is unable to pay the fee. Whatever name this fee has, it will be considered as a fee to register a death."

The Scottish Government argues that the Bill will result in lower costs for two-thirds of Scottish families. A spokesman said: "Improved accuracy of cause of death forms will provide vital public health information and help ensure that NHS resources can be directed where most needed."