NAFD achieves a breakthrough on retained ashes

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) has achieved a major breakthrough on the issue of unclaimed cremated remains, publishing a set of industry guidelines designed to help clarify the legal position for funeral directors.

The guidelines relate to the disposal of cremated remains retained by funeral directors where the applicant for cremation cannot be traced and have been issued to NAFD members via the Association’s monthly electronic newsletter. They are also available for members to download from the NAFD’s award-winning website, www.nafd.org.uk

This is an important victory for the NAFD, which has been campaigning on the issue of retained ashes for the past three years. In December 2010 the chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Funeral and Bereavement Group and Alan Slater and Nigel Lymn Rose from the NAFD met with Jonathan Djanogly MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice responsible for Coroners’ reform and burial policy, to highlight the problems that many funeral businesses face in respect of retained ashes on their premises and the uncertain legal position as to what can be done with them.

Keen to understand how the situation had arisen and what options existed for the industry, the Minister was also interested to hear about the success of the Scottish Cross Party Parliamentary Group for the Funeral and Bereavement Service, which has been working with the Scottish Government to develop a solution.

Mr Djanogly agreed that the best course of action was for the NAFD to draft some guidelines for funeral directors to follow and to obtain legal opinion before sending them to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for consultation and review.

The draft guidelines were submitted to the MoJ in September 2011 and the NAFD was subsequently informed by Mr Djanogly that they comply with the provisions set out in the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008. Having obtained a second legal opinion, the NAFD has now issued the guidance to members.

“We have spent a great deal of time working with the MoJ, drafting the guidelines and liaising with our legal advisors to ensure the guidance is both helpful to our members and complies with cremation legislation,” says the NAFD’s chief executive officer Alan Slater.

“Getting the Justice Minister’s support enabled us to conclude our campaign and end the year on a positive note by helping our members resolve the issue of unclaimed cremated remains once and for all.”