The Law Commission’s Burial, Cremation and New Funerary Methods project is sharing the agreed Terms of Reference, and the timetable for the three different strands of work:

 

• Burial and Cremation, which will look at the law governing different types of burial grounds and crematoria. This will include consideration of grave reuse. This strand has now started and will run until the end of 2025.
• New Funerary Methods, which will consider a future-proof regulatory framework for new methods of dealing with a body after death, such as human composting and alkaline hydrolysis. This strand will run from the beginning of 2024 to spring 2026.
• Rights and Obligations relating to Funerary Methods, Funerals and Remains, which will look at issues including whether a person’s wishes about their body after death should be legally binding, who should have the right to make decisions about bodies, and public health funerals. This strand will run from the end of 2025 to the end of 2027.

 

Formal public consultation will take place on each strand of the project work.

 

Please see the project webpage at the following link for more information: Burial, Cremation, and New Funerary Methods - Law Commission

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