Marie Curie holds 'funeral' outside Parliament

• Opera singer and social issues advocate Camilla Kerslake led a eulogy in front of 281 empty chairs to represent the number of people who die in poverty daily 
• The figure is highlighted in Marie Curie's new Dying in Poverty report, which also reveals 120,000 could not afford to heat their homes when they died last year
• The charity is urging the public to sign its petition calling on the UK Government to make actionable changes to fix the cost of dying crisis 

Marie Curie, the UK's leading end of life charity, has held a funeral outside parliament with 281 empty chairs to represent the hundreds who die in poverty every day according to its new report, Dying in Poverty 2025, released earlier this month.

Opera singer Camilla Kerslake, a vocal advocate on many social issues, led a eulogy highlighting the scale of the 'cost of dying crisis' and the stories of individuals who have been affected by it.

Each chair featured a quote from someone who has been affected by both poverty and terminal illness. They include Jayne Bishop, who said:

"My son Chase should not have had to spend any of that precious time we had in his final months worrying about money... If one thing comes out of our negative experience, it's that I hope the UK Government acts urgently so that people like Chase are protected from poverty at the end of their lives in the future."

The research was carried out by Dr Juliet Stone and Dr Elaine Robinson at the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University.

The charity is urging the public to sign its petition urging the UK Government to make actionable changes to address this crisis.

Matthew Reed, Chief Executive of Marie Curie, said:
"It is heartbreaking to think of people like Chase and his family, already facing unimaginable pain, being forced to worry about basic needs and financial worries in their most vulnerable moments. Social tariffs on energy bills, council tax relief and equity in end of life benefits are not just policy choices—they are a lifeline for dying people and their families.

"We urge political leaders and policymakers to consider these actionable and realistic policy recommendations so dying people no longer have to spend their precious final months in cold homes, facing spiralling bills and impossible decisions. Nobody should die in poverty. Every person deserves comfort and dignity at the end of their life."

The Dying in Poverty Report
According to Marie Curie's new Dying in Poverty report, last year one in six people who died in the UK (18 per cent) were living in poverty at the time. This equated to over 103,000 individuals, with the highest rate in the North East and Yorkshire.

The research was carried out by Dr Juliet Stone and Dr Elaine Robinson at the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University. People of working age are more likely to die in poverty than people over pension age, in large part because the State Pension provides a higher income than working-age benefits. Someone just over the pension age with a terminal illness could receive several hundred pounds more than someone just under that age.

The report also found that across all demographics, people in the last year of life are more likely to be in poverty than the rest of the population. Again, this increased risk is greater for working-age people (a 32% increase) than pension-age people (23%).
An even higher number – 120,000 – died in fuel poverty*, meaning they were struggling to heat their home or run vital medical equipment. People using electricity to heat their homes, rather than gas or oil, are more likely to experience fuel poverty – and it is most prevalent in Northern Ireland, North East England and London.

The report also shows that 23,000 people a year die in 'deep poverty' – with incomes 50% below the poverty line. Almost one in 10 people of working age who die do so in deep poverty – compared to one in 33 people of pension age.

Black and Asian people are twice as likely to be affected. Shockingly, 40 per cent of Black pensioners die in poverty. Almost half of working-age Black individuals who die, die in poverty. While this is often the legacy of wider inequalities in society, it only underscores the need for action.

Also noted in the report is that those with a non-cancer diagnosis are more likely to die in poverty than people with cancer. This is likely due to having less contact with palliative care services which may in turn reduce their awareness of, or access to, financial support or advice services.

The Cost of Dying petition
Marie Curie is calling for the UK Government to act now and stop the cost of dying crisis by introducing a social energy tariff, and ensuring the working-age benefits system provides protection against poverty in the same way it does for pensioners.

It is aimed at Pat McFadden MP (Secretary of State for Work & Pensions) and Ed Miliband MP (Secretary of State for Energy Security & Net Zero).

1) Introducing a social tariff for energy to protect terminally ill people and their households from spiralling energy bills.

People living with a terminal illness are often forced to choose between powering vital medical equipment, heating their home or buying food. Meanwhile, their energy bills can be thousands of pounds higher than the average household.

Marie Curie believes that cutting energy bills is the single most effective way to reduce fuel poverty among people at the end of life – a 50% reduction could potentially lift more than 50,000 people out of fuel poverty entirely at the end of the life and reduce fuel poverty for tens of thousands more.

2) Make sure that all people living with a terminal illness have enough income to live their life comfortably until the very end, regardless of what benefits they may receive

Terminally ill people who die before reaching retirement age are at particularly high risk of experiencing poverty, as they often experience a 'double impact' of lost income and rising costs.

Working-age benefits provide a lower level of income than the State Pension, as they have been affected by real-term cuts and freezes, while the State Pension has increased in real terms in recent years due to the 'triple lock'.

Giving working-age terminally ill people benefits at the equivalent level of the State Pension could cost as little as 0.1% of the State Pension's overall budget, while also almost halving the number of working-age people who spend their last year of life in poverty. It would also address the injustice of people dying before they can access it, despite potentially paying into the system for decades.

Regardless, the UK Government urgently needs to address the additional costs that people of all ages face after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The Dying in Poverty report details additional policy recommendations including an energy rebate scheme for at-home medical devices, and council tax relief – an area which Marie Curie has seen recent success, securing commitments from 16 English councils to exempt terminally ill residents, with more expected to follow.

The charity is aiming to have 50,000 signatures on the petition before it is handed in to government in January.

To sign the Cost of Dying petition, visit http://mariecurie.org.uk/campaigns.

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Notes to Editors

For more information, contact mariecurie@theacademypr.com.

The Dying in Poverty report 2025 and Cost of Dying petition can be found at https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/poverty.

*It is possible for the same household to be in both poverty and fuel poverty, so these numbers cannot be added together.

Marie Curie offers free information and emotional support for people living with a terminal illness and their family, friends and carers. Find out more at https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/services/support-line.

Please note, Marie Curie is not a cancer charity but the UK's leading 'end of life charity'. We care for people with any illness they are likely to die from including Alzheimer's (and other forms of dementia), heart, liver, kidney and lung disease, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's, and advanced cancer.

The eulogy that Camilla Kerslake read outside Parliament reads as follows:
Today we have come together here, outside the UK parliament, to remember all the people who spend the end of their lives in poverty, but whose stories are so rarely heard.

Marie Curie estimates that 281 people die in poverty every single day across the UK. In fact, the issue is so extreme that another terminally ill person is likely to have died in poverty before I have even finished speaking today. That's absolutely unacceptable.

The death of somebody we love is always upsetting. But we all want the last months, weeks and days of our lives to be a time when we can focus on what really matters: making memories with loved ones. And so many people have that opportunity stolen from them by poverty.

Each of the 281 chairs that are laid out in front of me today represents a different person – each from a different part of the UK, and with their own stories, passions and quirks. But they are all united by one terrible thing: dying in poverty. Seeing the scale of the issue and reading the real-life experiences of people who spent the end of their lives in poverty is heartbreaking. But it's something that so few of us even know about. And without Marie Curie these stories would never be told at all. That is unacceptable, because these people matter.

Pamela matters. Her story is on chair 17. She had to make the impossible choice between eating or keeping warm after her terminal diagnosis – and admitted to Marie Curie that sometimes she wished her health would deteriorate faster so that she would no longer feel like she was a financial burden on her family.

Adrian also matters. He told Marie Curie that he was constantly worrying about paying the spiralling energy bills after his MND diagnosis and felt unable to relax because he even dreamt about his financial issues. His experiences are on chair 138.

And Anne, whose story is on chair 211 matters too. She told Marie Curie that she felt desperately lonely in her final months, because she couldn't afford to socialise. Even simple things like buying biscuits or using the kettle to make guests a cup of tea were beyond Anne's means, as the benefits she received didn't cover the high but unavoidable expenses that often come with a terminal illness. We only get one chance to make the most of our lives: something that people who are approaching the end of their lives are often especially aware of. But because people in their final year of life are at a higher risk of experiencing poverty, they're also most likely to miss out on living their lives well.

Nobody should spend precious time at the end of their lives worrying about how they will make ends meet – struggling to pay their bills, going without, and building up debts that will be passed onto their loved ones after their death.

I count myself as exceptionally lucky, because I can only imagine how difficult life felt for Pamela, Adrian, Anne, and all the other people whose stories are being shared today. Or how difficult it feels right now for every person who is experiencing poverty while also dealing with a terminal illness. I hope that one day more of us are only able to imagine those experiences, rather than experiencing them directly.

So today I'm asking you to listen to the stories that are being told here, and to share them so that others can listen too. Together we can help make sure that the issues faced by terminally ill people and their loved ones can't be ignored any more. Because every day we continue to allow these stories to go unheard, 281 more
people will die in poverty. And everyone deserves be able to live with dignity to the very end of their lives.