Funeral Industry News

Funeral Director Code of Practice: approved by The Scottish Parliament

February 20, 2024 by funeral-industry-news No Comments | Category Uncategorized

The Scottish Government is pleased to confirm that the draft Funeral Director Code of Practice (‘the Code’) received parliamentary approval on 31 January 2024.

Please see the Scottish Government website for the approved Code.

The Minister for Public Health & Women’s Health, Jenni Minto MSP, has written to funeral directors in Scotland to inform them of the Code’s approval and the intended issue date.

Please find the letter here –  Funeral Director Code of Practice – Minister letter to funeral directors – February 2024.

The Code was considered by Parliament prior to being passed by a vote. The documentation that the Committees and Parliament considered also included a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment and an Information Note.

As set out by the Scottish Government in that documentation and the letter from the Minister, funeral directors will now have 12 months to become fully compliant with the Code before the intended date of the Code being issued and brought into force by the Scottish Government on 1 March 2025. From the intended issue date onwards, funeral directors in Scotland must comply with the Code as is required by section 97 of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016.

The Code, once issued and in operation, will apply to all funeral directors carrying out the functions of a funeral director in Scotland regardless of where their business is based. We encourage all funeral directors to carefully read the Code and ensure they are fully compliant by 1 March 2025. In future, it is intended that funeral director businesses will be inspected against the standards within the Code with appropriate steps to be available to inspectors for the purpose of ensuring compliance.

Separately, the Scottish Government thanks everyone who submitted a response to our public consultations on burial, inspection, licensing and alkaline hydrolysis which were carried out in Autumn 2023. The responses are currently being analysed and will help inform the development of the resulting proposed regulations.

If you have any questions regarding any aspect of the Code or require further information, please contact the Scottish Government at: ceu@gov.scot.

Comments