Crematorium

A crematorium is the licensed building where cremations take place, usually with a chapel where a service or committal can be held. In England and Wales crematoria run under the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008, and a medical referee at each one must authorise every cremation. Crematorium operators have to publish their prices so families can compare them.

What the crematorium needs first

No cremation can be booked until the papers are in. In England and Wales that means the application for cremation, signed by the applicant, usually the next of kin or the executor, and the green form from the registrar, the certificate for burial or cremation. Before the registrar will see you, a medical examiner reviews the cause of death. When the coroner is involved there is no green form, and the coroner issues a certificate for cremation instead. Scotland and Northern Ireland use their own forms and rules.

What happens on the day

Services in the chapel are booked in slots, commonly thirty or forty-five minutes. After the committal, the coffin goes to the committal room. Any pacemaker is removed, because it cannot go into the cremator. A card with the person’s name stays with the coffin from start to finish, and the coffin is cremated whole and on its own, at around 800 to 1,000 degrees, for one and a half to three hours. Once it has cooled, any metal from surgery is removed, and the ashes are placed in a sealed container with the person’s name and the crematorium’s certificate.

What it costs

Fees vary with the crematorium and with the kind of cremation, attended or unattended. A crematorium fee is roughly £700 to £1,200. Every operator must publish a standardised price list under the Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021, so the figures are there to compare before you choose.

The garden of remembrance

Nearly every crematorium has one. Ashes can be scattered or buried there by the crematorium’s own staff, with or without the family present, and many offer a plaque or an entry in a book of remembrance.