Inspector of Burial, Cremation and Funeral Directors: annual report 2025 to 2026

Findings by the Senior Inspector in reporting year

7. There continues to be 100% recovery of ashes from all crematoria.

8. All crematoria were found to be performing to a good standard, adequately staffed, and operating to below maximum capacities as regards numbers of cremations.

9. Whilst there were a number of mechanical breakdowns to cremators during this period, swift implementation of contingency plans ensured that there were no undue delays to funerals.

10. This was also the case when a large company within the Funeral Industry was subject of a well-publicised cyber-attack.

11. Following implementation of the Funeral Director Code of Practice on 1^st March 2025, and in particular the requirement for a funeral director to inform inspectors of any complaint relating to an alleged breach of the Code within 48 hours of it being made, the Senior Inspector noted a marked increase in matters reported to him.

12. The majority of these notifications related to matters considered by the funeral director to be at the lower end of the scale, and which prior to legislative requirement were dealt with internally by the funeral director and the family.

13. A summary of a selection of the varied enquiries/ complaints referred to the Senior Inspector are detailed later in this report.

14. Following introduction of the Funeral Sector Register on 1^st April 2025 (Register of known Burial Authorities, Cremation Authorities and Funeral Directors) registration was initially slow but has since improved with currently around 700 registered.

15. Whilst registration is not mandatory it is known that a number of Cremation Authorities are considering only accepting bookings from funeral directors who have registered.

16. Notable legislative changes introduced during the period of this report are The Burial and Cremation (Applications and Registers) (Miscellaneous Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2025, which introduced new statutory forms for both burial and cremation, The Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 (Commencement No 6 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024, which changed the duration and extension of burial rights, and most recently the Hydrolysis (Scotland) Regulations 2026, making Scotland the first in the UK to introduce hydrolysis as a legal, environmentally friendly alternative to traditional burial or flame cremation.

17. To date, the Senior Inspector is not aware of any planning applications having been made for installation of hydrolysis equipment.

18. One other significant change which was implemented on 1^st November 2025 was the process for sending the MCCD (Medical Certificate of Cause of Death) directly to the registration office that the family choose to use, and not to be given to the next of kin/ legal guardian/ executor of the deceased’s estate/ will or the funeral director.

19. Whilst the change was initially not welcomed by a number of funeral directors, there have not been further issues of note reported to the Senior Inspector.