He said nowadays it was not uncommon for a full funeral service to cost more than $10,000 and, with the grant not increasing at the same rate, it now covered around a fifth of the cost.
"From the WINZ point of view, it has actually become disproportionate, hugely disproportionate over the years, they've never kept up with what it should be."
The Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand (FDANZ) called for the grant to be increased following the July 1 release of council burial and cremation costs across the country.
FDANZ chief executive Gillian Boyles said a sample of 17 council sites showed average burial costs were now more than $4000, increasing 9 per cent from July 2020 to July 2022.
She said the average cost of a modest funeral was $8400.
Whanganui District Council senior parks manager Wendy Bainbridge said burial and cremation costs in the region had increased by 5 to 8 per cent in the last two years.
The cost for an adult burial plot, the maintenance fee for the plot and an adult weekday burial was $2264, which would be fully covered by the Work and Income grant.
However, costs for a plot and a burial on Saturday before 1pm, or the rest of the weekend after 1pm Saturday, were $2402 and $2743 respectively, which would not be fully covered by the grant.
Bainbridge and Cleveland said burial and cremation charges in Whanganui were some of the cheapest in the country, with burials costing as much as $5000 in New Plymouth, for example.
Cleveland said, outside of burial costs, other aspects of the funeral ceremony, such as the price of a casket, catering and celebrants, had increased in cost due to supply issues and rising fuel prices.
The FDANZ suggested a more equitable amount for the grant would be $6300, close to the funeral grant allowable under ACC which could pay a grant of up to $6569.53 to the family of someone who died from an injury.
Cleveland, who is a member of FDANZ, was in support of the call to increase the grant to something in line with the ACC grants.
"As a member of the FDANZ, we fully support it and, as an organisation, we've been governing and lobbying the government all of the time to actually increase it.
"The Ministry of Social Development is not meeting the needs of people who need it most, that's where the association is coming from and has come from for many years."
Cleveland said because of the rising costs, he had to point more families toward cremation rather than burial.
The number of people choosing cremation in Whanganui was now approaching 80 per cent because the burial option was unaffordable for many families, while the cost of cremation was fully covered by the Work and Income grant, he said.
"We have to counsel people and we have to talk to people very gently about cost, but it's something that is very important to us because the last thing we want to do is put the family into a situation of stress because they can't afford the funeral service."
Cleveland said he hoped the grant was raised as it would help many families at a difficult time in their lives.
"We're not after a sum that actually makes money for us, we're actually after a sum that is fair to families," he said.
Boyles said there were particular concerns for Māori and Pasifika families, who held burial as their preferred option over cremation.
"Our funeral directors have significant concerns about the wellbeing impact of them not being able to farewell their loved ones in a culturally appropriate way," Boyles said.
Graham Allpress, the director of client service delivery at MSD, said the ministry knew the loss of a family member or loved one affected people and the ministry wanted to provide as much support as it could.
"The Funeral Grant was reviewed in 2003. It is linked to the Consumer Price Index, which has resulted in a 47 per cent increase in that time."
Allpress said any changes to the grants would be a matter for ministers.
