Charges for burying babies and toddlers will increase by at least twice the rate of inflation in the next tax year.

Barnet Council is set to raise the fees as part of its budget in a bid to keep the rise in council tax down to 2.8 per cent.

The authority initially planned to raise the cost of burying children under three by an inflation-busting ten per cent, but was forced into backing down when the proposal became public.

Councillor Brian Coleman, the cabinet member responsible for the move, had told the Times Series he had not been aware of the increase and said he would put forward an “inflation-linked” increase.

However after going back to the drawing board, the Conservative administration is still proposing an increase of more than six per cent for a Class A grave and 9.65 per cent for a Class B grave.

That will see the cost of burying a baby or toddler rise from £1,600 to £1,700 for the more expensive graves, and from £684 to £750 for the cheaper graves.

A council spokesman said the increased charges were in line with inflation because there had been no increase in 2007.

But Councillor Jack Cohen, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, called the decision “totally uncaring and totally unnecessary”.

He said: “I’m disappointed and quite frankly disgusted by this increase.

“I don’t see how digging a child’s grave can have an impact on the budget that means the prices have to go up.

“I’m trying to find out how much more they are going to receive, but I can’t get a final figure. It seems it might get them an extra £1,000 in a budget of £230 million.”

He added: “The move is totally unjustified, totally uncaring and totally unnecessary.

“The only people who are going to feel this are the grieving families and it is callous of the council to make them pay”

According to council papers the increases are necessary to offset rising costs, but also to meet new income targets and deliver budget savings.

Other burial charges have increased after the draft budget was reconsidered by Mr Coleman, with the cost of double-depth graves rising by ten per cent, up from the original 9.17 per cent.

Mr Coleman refused to comment about the revised increases.