Cremation

Cremation is the reduction of a person's body to ashes by heat, in a cremator at a crematorium. It takes between two and three hours, and the ashes, which are bone fragments ground fine, are returned to the family within a few days, in a container or an urn.

Around three in four funerals in the UK are cremations. Some are attended, with a service in the crematorium chapel before the committal. Some are direct cremations, with no service and no one present, and the family holds whatever gathering they want separately.

Every cremation needs the crematorium's application form and the medical paperwork that confirms the cause of death, and a cremation cannot be undone, which is why the paperwork is checked twice. Once the ashes are home, families keep them, bury them, scatter them or take them abroad; each of those has its own guide on this site.

How it is carried out

Any pacemaker is removed first, because it cannot go into the cremator. A card with the person's name stays with the coffin through every stage, which is how the crematorium makes sure the ashes returned are theirs. The coffin goes into the cremator whole and is not opened, and each cremation is carried out on its own, at around 800 to 1,000 degrees. Metal from surgery or dentistry is taken out afterwards, and the ashes are sealed in a container with the person's name and the crematorium's certificate.

The ashes

The ashes of an adult weigh about two to four kilograms, more than most families expect. There is no deadline for deciding what to do with them.

Water cremation

Water cremation uses heated water and an alkali in place of flame. In March 2026 Scotland became the first UK country to make it lawful, and England and Wales have no legal framework for it yet.

Read next

How a direct cremation runs is in direct cremation step by step, and what it costs in how much a direct cremation costs. Whether it is the right choice for your family is in is a direct cremation right for us. We arrange one for a fixed £1,295 in London, Nottinghamshire and Doncaster, on the direct cremation page.

Related terms: Cremation ceremony and Types of funeral. Every term in the funeral glossary.