Public health funeral

A public health funeral is a simple funeral the local council arranges when someone dies and no one is able or willing to make arrangements, often because there is no family. Councils in England and Wales have a legal duty to provide one under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984.

When the council arranges one

The duty applies when no other suitable arrangements are being made. That may be because the person had no next of kin, or because relatives and friends cannot or will not arrange the funeral. Before it acts, the council has to establish that no relative can pay, and that can take weeks. A family in that position should call the council’s bereavement or environmental health team and explain.

What it includes

It is a simple cremation or burial, usually unattended, carried out by a contractor the council appoints. The family can usually attend and can usually have the ashes afterwards. The aim, set out in the government’s good practice guidance for councils, is that everyone is treated with care, dignity and respect, whatever their means. The law leaves each council some freedom in how it provides the service, so councils deliver it in different ways.

What it costs the family

A public health funeral is not a charity. If the person left an estate, the council recovers the cost of the funeral from it. It exists for the family with no money and no benefits.

Other help to ask about first

If you are arranging the funeral and receive a qualifying benefit, the Funeral Expenses Payment pays the cremation or burial fee in full and helps with the rest, and a direct cremation is among the lowest cost ways to hold one.