'Workable solution' needed to deal with up to 300,000 sets of unclaimed ashes across UK

A cremation urn next to three red roses
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) has called for a "workable solution" to respectfully manage the up to 300,000 sets of unclaimed ashes in the UK.

The NAFD highlighted the issue of funeral directors facing storage problems due to the large number of uncollected cremated remains. Although there is no precise count, the NAFD's research indicates that there are between 250,000 and 300,000 sets of ashes awaiting collection for various reasons, including family disputes, illness, plans to inter two sets of ashes together, or because a bereaved family member is finding it difficult to make the decision to collect the ashes.

The Law Commission has been reviewing burial and cremation laws and suggested a deadline for collecting unclaimed ashes before they are sent back to the crematorium. It stated: "If the applicant does not respond within four weeks, the funeral director should be able to return the ashes to the crematorium, and the crematorium should have a duty to accept them."

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This proposal is intended to apply both retrospectively and to future cases of unclaimed ashes. A report with final recommendations is anticipated by the end of this year.

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) has expressed agreement with the overall intention of the commission's proposals, but suggested that a four-week period may not be sufficient. They propose extending this to a minimum of eight weeks.

Rachel Bradburne, the NAFD’s director of external affairs, said: “Changing family patterns, people residing abroad, or illness could easily delay this process for longer than a month. In addition, crematoria in most cases do not have the capacity to store ashes on site. However, the ability to return ashes after a set period would prevent the legacy issue getting any worse.”

Ms Bradburne pointed out that crematoria will not be able to accept thousands of sets of ashes, hence a sector-wide solution is needed to deal with the historic remains currently held by funeral directors. She said that their funeral director members are "incredibly sensitive" to the difficulties families encounter and will "always try to accommodate the needs and wishes of their clients when they are known".