Burial and cremation

The Law Commission has published the final report of its review of burial and cremation law.

Main project: Burial, cremation, and new funerary methods

Problem (Back to top)

Burial law is governed by a fragmented and outdated framework. Much of the legislation dates back to the nineteenth century, and different rules apply depending on whether a burial ground is operated by local authorities, the Church of England, the Church in Wales, or a private burial operator. This historically developed patchwork has created inconsistencies and gaps in the safeguards intended to protect the dignity of those who are buried.

Burial space is running out across England and Wales, with pressures particularly worse in some urban areas. Grave reuse has long been discussed as a potential response to the shortage of burial space. However, it is only available to London councils and in a few specific cemeteries.

Cremation law, although having been reformed more recently, continues to contain unresolved issues. Concerns have been raised about the significant number of sets of ashes left with funeral directors, which current law prevents them from lawfully dealing with. There are also uncertainties regarding the ownership of medical implants which are removed prior to cremation.

Project (Back to top)

This project came out of our 13th Programme of Law Reform and sits within our wider review of Burial, Cremation and New Funerary Methods. Given the breadth of issues involved, the work was divided into 3 sub-projects. Further information on each sub-project is available in the related projects section on this page.

We have now concluded the report and final recommendations for reform of the law covered by the first sub-project, titled Burial and Cremation. A final report on the second-sub project, addressing the regulation of new funerary methods, along with draft legislation, will be published shortly. Work on the third sub-project, Rights and Obligations Relating to Funerary Methods, Funerals and Remains will begin shortly. We intend to publish by mid-2028 a report on recommendations for reform of the law in this area, and a draft Bill giving effect to the recommendations from both the first and third reports – Burial and Cremation and Rights and Obligations Relating to Funerary Methods, Funerals and Remains.

We published our consultation paper on Burial and Cremation in October 2024, and the open public consultation ran until 9 January 2025. We received 632 responses to our consultation from a wide range of consultees.

Our recommendations for reform

Our recommendations would modernise burial and cremation law, and provide clearer, more consistent safeguards for bereaved families and friends. They respond directly to the shortage of burial space, the complexities created by Victorian-era legislation, and the need to respect the diversity of religious and cultural practices in modern Britain. Key recommendations include:

There should be new consistent safeguards in burial grounds. For example, we recommend new minimum burial depths, rules on issuing burial and memorial rights in writing, consistent record-keeping rules, and rules on the maintenance of burial grounds.
All burial grounds should be able to seek grave reuse and reclamation powers which are currently only available to some cemeteries. There will be two levels of protection before grave reuse and reclamation powers can be used. First, burial grounds will have to apply for grave reuse and reclamation powers. The application to receive such powers will not be automatic: we recommend certain requirements that a burial ground operator/owner must undertake before receiving such powers. Second, we recommend that burial ground operators/owners must follow another set of procedures for each individual grave before reclaiming or reusing any of them.
Better protections for war graves, by providing the Commonwealth War Graves Commission with additional rights, and similar rights to the Ministry of Defence in relation to non-World War graves of service personnel.
Powers to reopen long-closed burial grounds so that they can be used again, creating more burial space closer to local communities.
Greater clarity for the offence of unlawful exhumation, and a higher maximum penalty.
Changes to the law so that there is greater transparency in relation to direct cremation, and other additional safeguards for users of crematoria.
Funeral directors hold hundreds of thousands of sets of ashes which have not been collected after cremation, which they currently cannot lawfully scatter or bury. We recommend a scheme for funeral directors that will enable them to return those ashes to the crematorium. Funeral directors must follow a specific procedure to safeguard the interests of bereaved families and friends.

Next steps

We published our final report on the Burial and Cremation sub-project on 18 March 2026. It is now for Government to review and consider our recommendations for reform.