Make funeral arrangements

Although most funerals are arranged by funeral directors, there is no reason why you shouldn't do part, or all, yourself.

Most funeral directors are willing for you to take as active a part as you want to in the arrangements. Be it burial or cremation it can be arranged independently but be prepared, you need to be able to cope with many rules and regulations, and the paperwork that goes with them, and be an extremely good organiser.

A funeral can be either by burial or by cremation. You can organise it with or without the help of a funeral director and personalise it as much as you wish. In some cases the deceased may have planned their own funeral in advance.

If you do wish to arrange a funeral without the help of a funeral director, you need to contact the Cemeteries and Crematoria Department for advice and guidance. See our related documents section for more information on "DIY funerals (PDF 160KB)".

Following a cremation, it is important that you consider “What to do next?”, with the ashes of your loved one. Some people may wish to have the ashes kept at home, knowing that their loved one is still close, whilst others may arrange to have the ashes buried in a family grave or purchase a new grave for the ashes to be kept.

If you wish to strew (scatter) the ashes in a public place, the disposal of ashes document (PDF 190KB) has more information on how to do this. If you require more help or guidance on the strewing of ashes, please contact the head office on the number given or email as below.

Further information

To compare funeral director prices across the city, visit yourfuneralchoice.com.

You can also compare funeral prices across the UK at beyond.life.com.

For advice on holding a cremation out of usual office hours (Monday to Friday 8am-4pm), please refer to the out of hours cremation (PDF 125KB) file in the related documents section.