Law Commission review of burial laws calls for greater reuse of graves

In the final report of its review of burial and cremation law, the law reform advisory body said greater reuse should happen only if proposals were approved by the Government following local consultation.

Reuse would be allowed 100 years after the last burial to protect against reuse within living memory, an increase from the current 75 years.

Relations of the deceased would have one year to object to reuse, increased from six months, and such an objection would stop reuse for a further 25 years.

There would also be protections against reuse of Commonwealth war graves and post-war military graves overseen by the Ministry of Defence.

The Law Commission noted that reuse is already allowed in London council cemeteries, Church of England churchyards and some cemeteries with specific laws, and said its proposals would extend these powers to other burial grounds in England and Wales, modernising laws left largely unchanged for more than 170 years.

Professor Lisa Webley, commissioner for property, family and trust law, said: “Our proposals would modernise and simplify burial and cremation law in England and Wales, and provide clearer, more consistent safeguards for bereaved families and friends.

“Our recommendations respond directly to contemporary challenges, including the shortage of burial space, the complexities created by Victorian-era legislation, and the need to recognise the diverse religious and cultural practices in modern Britain.”

Under the Law Commission’s proposals there would also for the first time be a rule that bodies must be buried with a minimum of two feet of soil above the coffin; at present there is no rule on this.

Maintenance requirements would be imposed on private cemeteries and there would be new rules on how grave rights are issued and burial records are kept.

The Law Commission also recommended that centuries-old burial grounds closed under Victorian laws should be reopened, and the offence of unlawful exhumation should be clarified and carry increased penalties for contraventions.

Looking at cremation, the Law Commission said funeral directors “hold hundreds of thousands of sets of uncollected ashes” and it should become lawful to return these to crematoria when unclaimed.

There would also be new requirements for identity checks to ensure the correct body is cremated. 

Mark Smulian