We were pleased to welcome Julie Dunk to Scribe Academy™ She is Chief Executive of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM).
Julie joined us to help provide ten top tips to ensure legal compliance when managing a Cemetery.
With over 25 years of experience in local authority and private sector cemeteries and crematoria, she shared some of this experience with 62 attendees on Zoom and also the Scribe team!
For help with managing and rules and regulations for your Cemetery Julie recommends the following guides and books:
Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977
Book: Essential Law For Cemetery and Crematorium Managers
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/cy/uksi/1977/204/made
Use LACO to your advantage - you can set your own regulations and rules for your cemetery, they should be customer-focused and reviewed every couple of years.
LACO states you must have a plan/map of your cemetery, this is a legal requirement.
You must know where your graves are and be confident that a new grave has not been pre-purchased or rights purchased by someone else. A map can be physical or digital.
Know what registers you need to keep. Again LACO details this. Allowable now to be kept digitally. To include Burials and Disinterments, a register of graves that cross-reference to your cemetery map, a Register of Grants of Exclusive Rights and a Register of Memorials that have been removed from graves.
Old Records, PRE 1977 must be kept. Keep a record of any memorials that have been removed.
Cremation Forms are specific. Burial forms can be whatever you would like. Internment Form, Grave Purchase Form for allocating Rights. Memorial Application Form. If out of date can google or look for templates as they are NOT specific. For naming Forms, take care of Memorial Form titles permission for a monumental erection, (not appropriate in this day and age!)
Know your registers, certain ones required by laws. Forms are not specific requirements, but registers are.
LACO allows you to issue Exclusive rights to a person or persons. Some authorities limit the number of owners (family disputes can cause issues), it is allowable to be multiple. You are allowed to decide on a period of grant up to a limit of 100 years. These can be extended at a later date, but not initially. The recommendation is below 100 years as unlikely an owner will still be alive or it may be difficult to find someone with a connection to the grave. A shorter time will allow you to re-issue the right and also make a further charge. So suggest possibly 50 years for a price then extend for another 50 years at a further cost.
If an owner of rights has passed away permission is still required. The owner must always give permission and this is not assumed even if a relative.
Memorials are more flexible, not burials.
Public access to records should be open to inspection at a time that is suitable to the burial authority. You can charge if you offer to do the search for the individual.
LACO does not specify how deep a grave should be but if there is a requirement for a space for a second grave there should be 6 inches of undisturbed soil between coffins and 3ft of soil between the last coffin and the ground surface (if good soil this can be reduced to 2 feet)
If you can’t achieve the depth then can build a chamber, but there are specific regulations for building the chamber if there is insufficient depth and you must follow policy to make it legal.
https://www.iccm-uk.com/iccm/wp-content/library/iccm_ShallowGraves.pdf
Before burial, you must ensure the death is registered or dealt with by a coroner. A Green form must be obtained from the registrar or a white form from the coroner. The Funeral Director may bring this with them to the funeral on the day of Burial. You should not proceed without Green Form.
Form 18 can be signed where the Funeral Director agrees to say that it has been registered but that the certificate was forgotten. If the Funeral Director does not agree to sign the form then the burial can NOT go ahead. If a form is later not presented then the Funeral Director is liable.
It is recommended to keep a copy of Form 18 as if the Green form is missing or not there then it would be distressing for the family of the deceased as the burial would be unable to go ahead.
https://www.iccm-uk.com/iccm/iccmdownloads/form-18/
A full coffin or ashes once buried are both protected by law and should not be disturbed without lawful authority. In England, there are two types of authority. A faculty from the local diocese and the exhumation (consecrated or non consecrated) license from the ministry of justice.
If consecrated you will need authority from the Church.
Unconsecrated (ministry of justice) is free of charge, usually turned around in 28 days or can be issued on the same day if urgent, such as wrong grave etc.
The faculty does have a cost (around £300) and the church does not always automatically grant the license to go ahead there is no guarantee and the decision is with the diocese.