Ashes now available from pauper funerals

Talkingof agreat nightout

Hamilton Speakers Club met last week in Ferniegair Hall.

President Colin Jones welcomed the members and handed the gavel to Sam Waugh, who chaired the evening.

Lynette Jardine discussed the meanings and origins of words.

Rita Little spoke about helping to plan the M74, covering acres of bridges, swamp, bings and underworks in her Land Rover.

May Stewart disputed any assertion that she was accident-prone.

And Sylvia Davidson tested members’ ingenuity by having them discuss whether everyone be on a DNA database, carry identity cards and have the right to remain silent.

Hamilton Speakers Club is the oldest organisation of its kind that meets in Lanarkshire and lets people speak in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

It will meet in Ferniegair Hall at 7.30pm on most Thursdays, until March 2020.

Bereaved families are now able to collect ashes of their relatives after public health funerals in South Lanarkshire.

Up until 2019, the council were one of just 21 local authorities in the UK that didn’t return ashes even if family members requested them.

However, a recent change in policy means families will be able to do what they want with their relative’s remains.

A public health funeral is arranged by the council when a family is unable or unwilling to arrange and pay for a funeral or the deceased has no traceable family.

The move came prior to Royal London publishing a list of local authorities across the country who either don’t return ashes, charge to return them or don’t allow family members to attend public health funerals.

South Lanarkshire had been included on the list but the council has since confirmed the change in policy.

Alistair

Mckinnon, head of facilities, waste and grounds at South Lanarkshire Council, said: “The council has seen a rise in the number of public health funerals over recent years and has worked closely with the Scottish Government and COSLA on the subject of funeral poverty to look at options to assist with funeral costs.

“We also worked with the Scottish Government on its consultation on funeral poverty.

“Family and friends of the deceased are welcome to attend the cremation or burial at a public health funeral and can, if they wish, choose to collect the ashes of the deceased or witness their scattering in the Garden of Remembrance.”

Mutual insurers Royal London are now calling for legislation on minimum standards for public health funerals.

They want to see councils return ashes to traceable families free of charge if requested and allow family members to attend public health funerals.

Louise Eaton-terry, funeral cost expert at Royal London, said: “It’s incredibly sad when bereaved families have no choice but to seek a public health funeral.

“But when some families are refused the ashes of their loved ones or are not even allowed to attend the funeral, it is clear that they are being treated unfairly.

“It’s about time the system was overhauled, and we’re calling for legislation on minimum standards for public health funerals to ensure everyone can, at the very least, attend a funeral and collect their loved one’s ashes.”

The total spend on public health funerals in 2018/19 was £6.3m, with more than 4000 public health funerals taking place.

The average health funeral

£1507.

Nearly a third (29 per cent) of public health funerals were undertaken by local councils because bereaved families were unable to afford the cost. cost of a public to councils was