Guidance

Funeral directors: cremation guidance for deaths that occurred in England or Wales

Information to help funeral directors arrange a cremation, including details of which forms to use.

• From: Ministry of Justice
• Published: 2 February 2012
• Last updated: 9 September 2024
  Show all updates

  1. 9 September 2024

     This guidance is now only to be used for deaths that occurred in England or Wales and cremation will take place in England or Wales. For guidance on deaths that occurred in Scotland, Northern Ireland or the rest of the British Islands and cremation will take place in England or Wales, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funeral-directors-cremation-guidance-for-deaths-that-occurred-in-scotland-northern-ireland-or-the-british-islands

  2. 25 March 2022

     Guidance updated.

  3. 3 April 2020

     Revised guidance published to reflect the temporary changes to the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008 provided for in the Coronavirus Act 2020

  4. 6 April 2018

     Guidance updated.

  5. 2 February 2012

     First published.

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

The Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008: guidance for funeral directors

HTML

The Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008: guidance for funeral directors

PDF, 430 KB, 21 pages

Details

The guidance gives details of the forms needed to arrange a cremation and explains options for what should happen to the ashes.

There is different guidance if the death occurred in Scotland, Northern Ireland or the rest of the British Islands and the cremation will take place in England or Wales.