Penny Shepherd calls for improvements to local authority support after death…

As an AWOC without close family, I want to plan for after my death confident that the state will take responsibility for ensuring my wishes are known and, so far as reasonably possible, carried out. Instead, I can only be sure that I will be buried if I clearly objected to cremation and my body will be treated respectfully while being “disposed of” on grounds of public health.

Today if you die without family, have no known executor and no-one else is willing to organise your funeral, the local authority where you die is responsible for what happens next. This is laid down in the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984, specifically Sections 46-48 on “Disposal of Dead Bodies”.

In 2020, this limited legislation was supplemented with non-binding government guidance on best practice. That recommended that local authorities should try to locate any next of kin but, surprisingly, included no reference to looking for a will, a funeral plan or any statement of funeral wishes.

The local authority will try to discover if you have left enough to refund its costs. It is also legally obliged to find out whether you objected to cremation. It will search your property for relevant information, and may find your plans and be able to transfer responsibility to someone you have nominated to carry these out. However, if there is no one to take over, the local authority still retains responsibility for your body. Any ceremony is then at its discretion. Even if it discovers your funeral wishes, its contractual arrangements for funerals may prevent it from following your instructions. The assumption underpinning current law and regulation is that, if you die without family or a social network, you will not have planned or budgeted for your demise.

The situation is exacerbated by the possibility that the local authority may not be able to view any will. A will is a private document until after probate and there are no special powers for anyone except you and then your executor to see it. If a copy or the original is held with any papers you leave, the local authority may find this but if it is stored securely elsewhere and any copies have been lost, your wishes may never be known.

The Law Commission has recognised concerns about the current provision of local authority funerals. It plans to consult later this year on possible changes. It highlights “a lack of clarity when it comes to the standards which apply to public health funerals, which local authorities have a duty to conduct when it appears that no other suitable arrangements will be made” and says “we have heard that this results in a patchwork of provision.”

We will be seeking to influence this review. Possible changes to ensure that AWOCs can make plans for their death and feel confident that these will be carried out could include:

1. A local authority obligation to take reasonable steps to locate any will, funeral plan or statement of funeral wishes and ensure that, so far as possible and where the cost has already been met or can be recovered from the estate, the deceased person has the funeral that they wanted.

2. Powers for the local authority to access the deceased person’s will after death (but not before) to determine their wishes for their funeral and the administration of their estate.

3. A requirement on the local authority to ensure the appointment of an administrator for the estate if there appears to be no valid executor or no will and there is no-one else available to do this.

4. Improved provisions for locating wills, building on the recommendations that the Law Commission has already made about changing the law to allow fully electronic wills.

The law on public authority funerals is not fit for the needs of today. As 21st century citizens, AWOCs should expect and demand more.

Penny Shepherd

Penny Shepherd is an AWOC trustee and a steering committee member of AWOC East Kent.

She is grateful to Evie King, author of Ashes to Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer and Get Ahead of Being Dead: Your Handy Planner for the End of Life, for fact checking support. The opinions and any further errors in this blog are Penny’s own.

Evie King is the speaker at an AWOC UK webinar on Tuesday 7 July 2026 at 7:30pm on “Planning for your AWOC death” (exact title tbc). Visit this page from mid-June for booking details.