Institutional Burials Act 2022

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Chapter 4

Final arrangements

Final arrangements for recovered human remains

57. (1) A Director shall make final arrangements for human remains recovered from principal burial land and, where applicable, ancillary burial land, in accordance with this Act—

(a) where the Director is given the function of carrying out an Identification Programme in an order made under section 7 and, subject to paragraph (c), in accordance with a decision made under section 46 (6) the Programme has continued—

(i) in the case of remains in respect of which a familial link has been established, as soon as practicable after the link has been established, or

(ii) where it has not been possible to establish a familial link, as soon as practicable after it becomes known that it is not possible to establish the link,

(b) where the Director is given the function and a decision is made under section 46 (6) not to continue with an Identification Programme, as soon as practicable after the making of that decision,

(c) where the Director is given the function and subsequently a decision is made under section 47 (1), as soon as practicable after the remainder of the Identification Programme is completed, and

(d) where the Director is not given that function, as soon as practicable after the completion of post-recovery analysis.

(2) Where subsection (1)(a)(i) applies, a Director shall—

(a) at the request of the highest ranking family member who is alive and not incapacitated, either return the human remains to him or her or arrange for the re-interment of the remains at a place selected by that highest ranking family member,

(b) where there is no family member alive or not incapacitated, make final arrangements for the human remains in accordance with the stated wishes of the highest ranking family member who stated such wishes,

(c) in respect of an applicable person where there is, in respect of the deceased person from whose human remains a DNA profile was the subject of a DNA profile comparison (with the DNA profile of the applicable person), no other family member, in accordance with the stated wishes of the applicable person, or

(d) where paragraph (b) or (c) applies but there are no stated wishes as referred to in those paragraphs, make such final arrangements by providing for the re-interment of the remains, including by selecting the place for, and manner of, such re-interment, as he or she considers most appropriate having regard to—

(i) the dignity of the deceased,

(ii) any known religious practices of the deceased, and

(iii) the condition of the remains.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), where paragraph (a)(ii), (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (1) applies, a Director shall make such final arrangements for the human remains concerned as the Director considers appropriate having regard to—

(a) the wishes (if any) of persons who consider themselves, with reasonable cause, to be family members of persons believed to have been buried at the principal burial land concerned or any ancillary burial land,

(b) the dignity of the deceased, and

(c) the condition of the remains.

(4) Where subsection (1)(a)(ii) applies, final arrangements for the human remains concerned shall not include cremation.

(5) In this section, “family member” means—

(a) a person who is a spouse or civil partner in respect of whom a notification referred to in section 42 (1)(d) has been entered in a register,

(b) an eligible family member in respect of whom a notification referred to in section 42 (1)(b)(iii) has been entered in a register and who is not a relevant person, and

(c) a relevant person.

(6) In this section, “highest ranking family member” shall be construed as meaning a family member taken in the following order: spouse, civil partner, parent, child, sibling, half-sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt and uncle, niece and nephew (whether of the whole blood or the half-blood), grandniece and grandnephew.