Funeral Industry News
Scottish Government Introduces New Regulations Under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016
November 15, 2024 by funeral-industry-news No Comments | Category Uncategorized
The Scottish Government yesterday (14 November 2024) laid four key sets of regulations before the Scottish Parliament, marking a significant step in the implementation of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”).
If approved, these regulations will come into force on 1 March 2025, aligning with the introduction of the Funeral Director Code of Practice.
The full draft regulations are now available to view on legislation.gov.uk and links are provided for each set of regulations below.
The Commencement Regulations commence various sections of the 2016 Act under Part 1 (Burial) and Part 4 (Inspection), which will align and support the three sets of regulations described below.
Sections 14 and 16 of the 2016 Act, which address the duration of burial rights, will come into force on 1 March 2026, one year later than the rest of the provisions being commenced. This provides burial authorities time to adjust to the new rules, with these changes applying only to burial rights sold on or after that date. These provisions will not be retrospective.
The Burial and Cremation (Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 (“the Inspection Regulations”)
The Inspection Regulations establish a robust statutory framework for the inspection of burial authorities, cremation authorities, and funeral directors (“relevant bodies”) across Scotland. These regulations will grant powers of inspection and enforcement, ensuring that relevant bodies comply with statutory requirements and standards, as set out in the 2016 Act, the Inspection Regulations, the Burial Regulations, the Cremation Regulations and the Funeral Director Code of Practice.
The Burial (Management) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 (“the Burial Management Regulations”)
The Burial Management Regulations formalise key operational aspects of burial ground maintenance and management and apply to all burial authorities (both local authority and non-local authority). Key features include:
- A requirement to create a publicly accessible management plan that must be reviewed annually. Authorities will have 12 months, beginning 1 March 2025, to prepare these plans.
- A duty to maintain burial grounds in good order and clarity on the powers available to burial authorities to uphold their obligations.
- A requirement to carry out scheduled inspections of headstones and memorials to ensure their safety and the steps to be taken to notify the public. While the frequency of inspections is not specified, the details are to be included in the burial management plan.
- The power to remove unauthorised headstones or memorials, with provisions outlining who will be responsible for the associated costs.
- A requirement for staff to be trained in relation to their day-to-day duties and to keep written records of training.
- A power to designate areas of burial grounds for use by particular faith, religion or belief groups.
The Applications and Register Regulations will include:
- The introduction of standard statutory burial forms and prescribed information to be included in burial registers, to be used by all burial authorities for all burials in Scotland. These forms will replace local variations and ensure consistency across all burial authorities in Scotland.
- A requirement to submit accompanying documents with burial applications
- A requirement for burial authorities to keep a record of all burial applications for 50 years from the date of burial
The new forms will be created in an accessible format and must be used for every application submitted on or after 1 March 2025. The forms will be available and distributed in advance of this date.
Next Steps
These regulations represent a significant step forward in achieving effective funeral sector regulation.
We encourage all burial authorities, cremation authorities, and funeral directors to carefully review the draft regulations.
For further information or questions, please contact the Scottish Government at burialandcremation@gov.scot.
You can also read the official Scottish Government press release here.
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