Burial and cremation
The Law Commission is seeking to reform the law of burial in England and Wales which is piecemeal, complex and outdated. The consultation period for this project has now ended.
It is also gauging solutions for unresolved issues in cremation law. The consultation period for this project has now ended. We are now analysing responses before making our final recommendations to Government.
Main project: Burial, cremation, and new funerary methods
Problem (Back to top)
Burial law is governed by a patchwork of legislation, some of which dates to the 1850s. There are different laws in place for burial grounds which are operated by local authorities, the Church of England, the Church in Wales, and private burial grounds. This complex picture has emerged as a result of different historical development. It means that there are gaps in the safeguards which protect the dignity of the people who are buried in burial grounds.
Burial space is running out across England and Wales, with the situation worse in some urban areas. Grave reuse has been proposed as a solution to this problem, but reform to permit the reuse of graves must include sufficient safeguards to maintain public support.
Cremation law has been reformed more recently in 2017 but some issues remain unresolved. Concerns have been raised about entitlement to ashes, and what may be done with them. There are also issues relating to the ownership of medical implants which are removed before cremation and relating to sets of ashes which have not been collected from funeral directors’ premises.
Project (Back to top)
Background
This project forms part of a wide-ranging review into Burial, Cremation and New Funerary Methods.
Due to scope, we have split this initial programme of work into 3 different projects. You can find information about them in the related projects section on this page.
Consultation
On 3 October 2024 we published a consultation paper containing our provisional proposals, and open questions on issues relating to law reform. The consultation paper contained provisional proposals for reform on a number of issues, including:
- the regulation of burial grounds
- grave reuse and reclamation
- closed and disused burial grounds, and exhumation
- the rights granted to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- cremation law
Listen to Professor Nicholas Hopkins discuss the consultation.
Commonwealth war burials
There has been some media coverage which suggests that the Law Commission is proposing that Commonwealth war graves (graves of servicemen and women who died in the first and second world wars) should be reused. This is not the case.
Grave reuse is currently permitted by law in London local authority cemeteries, and a few cemeteries with their own private Acts of Parliament. In these cemeteries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission must be notified before a burial ground operator seeks to reuse a grave, and has the power to object to the reuse of a Commonwealth war grave.
Our provisional proposals would include these same requirements. That would mean the Commonwealth War Graves Commission would be able to stop Commonwealth war graves being reused. Our provisional proposals would also give the Commonwealth War Graves Commission additional rights to enable them to protect Commonwealth war graves in other ways.
Our provisional proposals therefore seek to increase rather than decrease the protection available to Commonwealth war graves.
Next steps
The consultation period closed on 9 January 2025. We will use the responses to the consultation to develop our final recommendations for reform, which ultimately will be published in a report. We expect the report will be published towards the end of 2025.
During our consultation period, we held events across the country and online to share information about our provisional proposals and give stakeholders a chance to ask questions to inform their consultation responses. These events were held in York, Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Bath, as well as two online events.
We recorded the online event on the 2 December 2024.
Documents (Back to top)
Consultation, summary of consultation and consultation (Easy Read version)
Claddu ac Amlosgi: Crynodeb o’r Papur Ymgynghori
Updates (Back to top)
Consultation opened: 03 October 2024
Consultation ended: 09 January 2025
Contact (Back to top)
Contact us to be added to our mailing list.
Email: bcnfm@lawcommission.gov.uk
Phone: 0203 334 3350