If someone dies at their home or at a private care or nursing home in Rossendale, and it appears that no funeral arrangements have been made, we have a legal responsibility to make sure that there is a proper cremation. The legal requirement for this comes from section 46 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984.
This usually happens when the person who has died has no known relatives or has relatives who either don't want to, or are unable to make funeral arrangements. We usually get referrals from the Coroner.
Reclaiming our costs
We have the right to claim the costs of arranging a public health funeral from the money or property of the person who has died. We will search their home to see if we can find a will, documents relating to next of kin, bank accounts, savings, investments, any assets that can be sold. If we find a will the executor of the will must make the funeral arrangements.
After the funeral
The cremated remains are scattered in the garden of remembrance at the crematorium. If the person who's died owned property or other assets, and there is no-one to inherit them then we refer the case to the Duchy of Lancaster.
We get lots of Freedom of Information Requests in relation to the cost of Public Funerals to the Council and other information and the basic data is on this spreadsheet