Draft statutory guidance on funeral costs: consultation

Section 1: About the consultation

What are we consulting about?

1. This consultation seeks views on draft statutory guidance on funeral costs for local authorities, burial and cremation authorities and funeral directors. The draft guidance is set out at section 3 of this document . Section 4 of this document sets out questions about the draft guidance. Responses to the consultation will be used to inform the final version of the guidance.

2. The focus of the consultation is on costs associated with arranging a funeral. We are not seeking views on regulation of the funeral sector. This is because the Scottish Government appointed Scotland’s first ever Inspector of Funeral Directors in April 2017. The Inspector will make recommendations to Ministers on how funeral directors’ businesses should be regulated by the end of 2018, including whether a licensing regime should be introduced. We have involved the Inspector during development of this draft guidance to ensure that it is clear that provision of lower-cost options should not result in poorer standards of care of the deceased. An Inspector of Crematoria has been in place since 2015 and an Inspector of Burials will be appointed in due course.

Who do we want to hear from?

3. We are keen to gather the views of local authorities, private burial or cremation authorities, funeral directors and any other groups or individuals with a working knowledge of, or interest in, burial and cremation or the funeral industry. We are also keen to hear from individuals and organisations with experience of tackling poverty or providing consumer advice.

4. To make this consultation as accessible as possible, we plan to undertake meetings with interested groups and individuals during the consultation period. This will help us to take into account concerns from specific groups, including islands and other remote communities, in the finalised guidance. If you are interested in being involved in this, please contact funeralcostsguidanceconsultation@gov.scot.

Who might be affected by the draft guidance?

5. The draft guidance has been written for burial and cremation authorities and funeral directors, and has a section with additional guidance for local authorities. The overall aim of the draft guidance is to support transparency in the funeral market to help consumers understand, compare and choose the services that are right for them. This consultation asks for views about the potential impact of the draft guidance on the public, private or third sector at section 5, which also asks for views about potential impacts on people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

What comments are requested and by when?

6. We are inviting responses to this consultation paper by Thursday 8 November 2018. To submit your response online please visit: https://consult.gov.scot/social-security/statutory-guidance-on-funeral-costs

7. If you would prefer, you can email your response to funeralcostsguidanceconsultation@gov.scot or send to:
Funeral Costs Guidance Consultation
Funeral Expense Assistance and Funeral Poverty Team
Social Security Policy
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

Comments and Concerns

8. If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted please send them to: funeralcostsguidanceconsultation@gov.scot

Or

Funeral Expense Assistance and Funeral Poverty Team
Social Security Policy
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ