Call to scrap charge for return of dead’s ashes from public funerals

A MAJOR employer that is moving to the outskirts of Macclesfield says Cheshire East Council is one of 18 that charge to return the deceased’s ashes after public health funerals.

A public health funeral is arranged by the local authority when the family of the deceased is either unable or unwilling to arrange and pay for a funeral, or when they cannot be traced.

Insurance firm Royal London - which is set to relocate from Wilmslow to Alderley Park this year - wants the law changed so that ashes can be returned to families for free.

Cheshire East Council held eight public health funerals in 2019, covering the associated costs, and returned ashes to six families at a charge of

£50 each.

Following a series of Freedom of Information requests to 400 councils, the firm found that 21 councils do not return ashes after a public health funerals, while 14 do not allow families to attend.

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.

“It’s about time the system was overhauled.”

A council spokesman said: “Where there are no identifiable relatives and no estate, the council will undertake a public health funeral using a nominated funeral director whose costs will be met by the council.

“Where there are relatives who wish to retain the ashes of the deceased following a public health funeral, a charge of £50 is made by the crematorium to cover the costs of providing a casket and the required documentation.

“This is the case with all cremations in the borough.

“In 2019, the council carried out eight public health funerals.

“The ashes were returned from six of those cremations and relatives did not raise any objection to the fee charged.”