Funeral Director Code of Practice: business and regulatory impact assessment

6 Sectors and Groups Affected

6.1 Scope of the funeral industry

The proposal will have an impact on all funeral director businesses operating in Scotland. The funeral industry in Scotland is an area where, as detailed above, there has been no statutory control or regulation until the 2016 Act. Trade associations have published and maintained their own codes of practice and inspect their members.

The March 2019 publication by the CMA on their decision to launch a Phase 2 market investigation revealed significant issues with both trade association codes of practice^[12] and the trade association inspections.^[13]

It should be noted that all businesses and local authorities are subject to other legislative obligations, such as relevant health and safety regulations. Burial and cremation authorities are subject to environmental health regulations as overseen by SEPA.

One outcome of a lack of direct, modern legislative intervention in the funeral industry is there exists a degree of uncertainty over the exact numbers of funeral directors currently operating in Scotland.^[14]

6.2 Funeral Directors

Funeral director businesses act as an important intermediary throughout the process and procedures around a death. Funeral directors liaise with a variety of public bodies such as registrars, police, local authorities and the NHS to make arrangements for the registration of death, followed by burial or cremation arrangements, on behalf of clients.

A funeral director business can be:

• Corporately owned and operated; or
• Independently owned and operated

Approximate numbers of funeral directors currently operating in Scotland:

• 500 businesses
• 930 branches in total

These figures are an estimate based on the most up to date information collated by the Scottish Government during the development of this BRIA. Information was obtained through the purchasing of a marketing list, and the two funeral director trade associations (NAFD and SAIF) provided their Scotland membership lists. Additional information was obtained through online searching. To fully inform future regulation the Scottish Government will continue to refine and examine these approximate numbers of businesses operating in Scotland.

6.3 Funeral Director Trade Associations

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) and National Society of Allied & Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) are the two funeral director-specific trade associations operating in Scotland. Membership of trade associations is voluntary, however the NAFD estimates that 80% of funeral directors in Scotland are a member of one or both organisations.

Each trade association has developed and published their own Codes of Practice (available here: The Funeral Director Code - The NAFD and SAIF). Each trade association undertakes inspections of their members against their respective Codes, and have communicated to officials that the Scottish Government’s Code served as inspiration.

Both the NAFD and SAIF have for many years played an important role in promoting best practice and in improving operational practice amongst their members. The Code recognises the trade associations’ own existing codes of practice, best practice guidance and codes of conduct, and has liaised closely with these organisations in the development of the Scottish Government’s Code. Communications by SAIF in particular have noted that the SAIF Code of Practice follows very closely the Scottish Government Code, given that the latter will be statutory in future, and in order to ensure alignment.^[15]

Members of NAFD or SAIF are subject to inspections by those associations as a condition of membership. However, these are not statutory inspections, and the trade associations’ codes are not statutory, therefore the strongest enforcement measure available if non-compliance is found is removal from their membership. Additionally, membership of a trade association is voluntary and not a requirement to someone operating as a funeral director. There’s an opportunity for good practices to be shared through trade association membership and other business networks, however there remains variation between individual business practices and good overall standards.

From August 2017 – June 2018, the Inspector of Funeral Directors inspected 55 funeral director premises on a voluntary basis. Whilst the general observations include general good practice and “areas of excellence”, the inspector also identified “departures from common or good practice in relation to care of the deceased, record keeping, training and experience of staff, identity checks, authorisation and permissions.”^[16]

The above options appraisal was undertaken with due regard to the sectors and groups possibly affected by implementation of the Code. Please see Table 2 below for this assessment.

6.4 Other Sectors and Groups Affected

Table 2: Other Sectors and Groups Affected - Assessment of Possible Impact

Local Authorities or Health Boards - Possible positive impact - we note that there is an ongoing issue with mortuary capacity in Scotland, which is caused by a variety of factors. This may in part, however, be due to some funeral directors delaying collecting deceased from hospital mortuaries until the time of the funeral. While reasons for this may be varied, a contributing factor may be the lack of refrigeration or cold room storage the funeral director businesses have available to them, either on their premises or through an SLA. The requirement for funeral directors to have, or have access to, refrigeration or cold room storage, alongside the requirement for the funeral director to take the deceased into their care at the earliest possible opportunity (see paragraph 18 of the Code), may help improve the issue of mortuary capacity in Scotland.

Third sector organisations - Possible positive impact, for example for third sector organisations supporting the bereaved, who will have a transparent set of minimum standards to which funeral directors must by complying with. No other (including financial) impacts to third sector organisations have been identified.

Consumers - The Code is intended to contribute to increased confidence among the public that funeral directors are providing high quality services and consistent, dignified care to the deceased.

Regulators - None.