Under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, councils have to arrange, as well as bear funeral costs when a person dies and no one is able or willing to pay for their burial or cremation.
The number of these funerals (also referred to as paupers' funerals), has increased, with the cost rising to £1.7 million; an increase of almost a third in four years.
According to the latest figures, the most public health funerals in Britain took place in the north-west of England.
