Changes to burials get go-ahead

LONG-AWAITED changes to the city's burial service were approved by council chiefs this week.

Members of Wakefield Council's cabinet gave the green light to an out-of-hours service, designed to meet the needs of the district's different faith groups, on Tuesday.

Last week the Express reported how the Muslim community had been campaigning for the changes for 15 years

The Islamic faith requires that the dead are buried within 24 hours if possible, and the new service will cater for burials on weekends, evenings and bank holidays, excluding Christmas Day. A report prepared for the meeting said there was usually an average of 12 out of hours burials requested each year.

It added: "In the absence of a policy for out of hours burials, the bereavement service team has made every effort to provide a service. Staff have voluntarily attended burials on evenings during daylight hours, Saturdays and Sundays."

But it said same-day burials were problematic because they require a doctor to attend to issue a death certificate, registration of the death and the issue of a certificate to bury.

Staff are also required to dig a grave or open a vault and to attend the burial.

The report said staff would not be placed on standby and that it would be provided subject to staff being available to carry out the burial. At the meeting, leader of the council, Coun Peter Box, spoke of his own personal experience of losing someone over a holiday period.

He said: "My father-in-law died on Boxing Day and it is appropriate for all faiths that we look at this".

"My brother-in-law came over from Australia and we had to make sure the funeral took place before he went back. The service was good, but staff were constrained".

Additional charges for a Saturday and evening burials would be £276, taking the price to £2,118. Bank holiday and Sunday burials would cost £368 extra.