Funeral Industry News

Scottish Government Introduces New Regulations Under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016

November 25, 2025 by No Comments | Category Burial authorities, Cremation authorities, Funeral directors, Regulations

The Scottish Government laid the Burial and Cremation (Applications and Registers) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 in the Scottish Parliament on 24 November 2025.

These Regulations amend the Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 2019 (“the Cremation Regulations”) and the Burial (Applications and Register) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 (“the Burial Applications Regulations”). This is partly in response to feedback on the forms and suggestions from the funeral sector and others.

If approved by the Scottish Parliament these regulations will come into force on 2 March 2026.

The full draft regulations are now available to view on legislation.gov.uk at:

The Burial and Cremation (Applications and Registers) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025

  • The regulations update the burial and cremation application forms in the Burial Applications Regulations and the Cremation Regulations, improving usability, removing guidance notes from the cremation application forms and ensuring the forms reflect current practice.
  • The regulations also update the cremation register requirements by removing the need for a prescribed form for the register and instead specifying the data that must be recorded.

We encourage all burial authorities, cremation authorities, and funeral directors to review the draft regulations.

For further information or if you have any questions, please contact the Scottish Government at burialandcremation@gov.scot.

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