Elected Member Briefing Note 2024, No. 115
About this Briefing Note
Report by: Andy Clegg, Community Greenspace Manager
Date: 19 December 2024
Subject: Procedures for receiving coffins at Perth Crematorium
Responsible Officer: Willie Greig, Senior Bereavement Services Officer
Details
Purpose
This briefing note has been produced to provide information to elected members about changes to the procedures for Perth Crematorium which come into effect from 6 January 2025.
Briefing Information
We have been working with our Bereavement Services Consultative Group of local celebrants, ministers and Funeral Directors to improve efficiency and ensure the appropriate dignity, privacy and respect is maintained for the deceased whose coffins arrive at the crematorium in advance of their funeral. As part of this work, we identified a difference in the way some coffins are brought into the crematorium, with funeral directors bringing some coffins (mostly those arriving for non-attended cremations or at the family's request) through the private entrance at the rear of the building.
To ensure all deceased are treated with the same level of respect, all coffins will now be brought through the chapel entrance off the main carpark whether there will be a funeral service or not. Procedures have been updated with effect from 6 January 2025 to reflect this.
To facilitate this change and to also make more efficient use of the Perth Crematorium facilities overall, we have also revised the service times. This does not change the length of service time available to mourners, but does reduce the number of chapel services which can take place in a day by one. This still allows enough capacity within the Crematorium to undertake all of the cremations currently carried out each year.
The updated procedure note will be shared with all funeral directors. While we do not anticipate these changes causing any issues for any stakeholders, we will continue to keep the changes under review based on feedback and experience.
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