If the deceased person died in a hospital managed by a NHS Hospital Trust and no relatives can be traced or relatives are unable to afford the cost of the funeral themselves or they do not qualify for a Social Fund Funeral Payment, then the bereavement Officer of the hospital in which the person died should be contacted.

If the deceased made a will, the council cannot become involved in the undertaking of the funeral arrangements unless the executor revokes the will.

In order to establish who will be responsible for undertaking the funeral arrangements, a full search of the premises where the deceased person formerly resided, if appropriate, will need to be made to establish whether there are any next-of-kin.

If the deceased resided in a hospital, care or nursing home, prior to the death and without a private address, then there may be no property to search. However, any retained personal papers will require careful examination to establish whether next-of-kin are able to arrange the funeral.

Whilst the majority of people may be organised in the retention of legal papers, correspondence, bills, diaries etc., others are not. In many cases important documentation is put aside for safekeeping in unconventional places and a full search of the property, therefore, needs to be made.

ESBC Commercial Team have the statutory authorisation to enter a property, under the provisions of section 61(1)(d) of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, to ascertain the extent of the estate and to remove any items or assets which may assist in funding the funeral.

If the Coroner is involved, then a Coroners Officer should have previously removed any valuables, money, benefit books and official documents whilst undertaking their initial investigations into the person’s death.

Keys to the deceased's property should not be left with neighbours or any other person but handed either to a Coroner's Officer or a Police Officer.

The premises must always be made secure. In the case of properties rented from a housing association, then a call to the relevant office should be made to ensure a temporary secure door to the premises is provided.

The Act allows the Local Authority to recover funeral costs incurred from the estate of the deceased. We will also recover £400 for officer expenses incurred in the administration of the funeral. This is the first charge on the estate. The remaining estate will be sent to the Treasury Solicitor (Bona Vacantia) if relatives can't be found.

If relatives are found they will need to apply to the Probate office for a Grant of Probate and Letters of Administration in order to access the residual estate. You can find more information by contacting the Probate office.

Landlords must not enter the premises or remove any items from the property until the Commercial Team have completed enquiries. In normal circumstances, this will be undertaken without delay and the keys subsequently returned to the property owner.

Further information is contained within the Public Health Funerals Policy Statement

There is also further information on bereavement allowance and funeral payments or you can contact East Staffordshire Borough Council Environmental Health Team

01283 508633

ehtechnical@eaststaffsbc.gov.uk

East Staffordshire Borough Council, Environmental Health, Town Hall, King Edward Place Burton upon Trent, DE14 2E

The Council will publish information each year in relation to this area of service. Appropriate information will be published after the financial year end figures have been collated.

Under Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Law Enforcement (prevention and detection of crime):

Revealing details of the assets of an estate before the Duchy of Lancaster has undertaken their own enquiries would provide an opportunity for criminal acts to be committed (for example theft or

fraud). Similarly, there would be concerns about making the last known address of the deceased public, as the property is likely to be unoccupied and might contain the deceased’s identify.

Taking into account the above issues, the Council considers that there is no over-riding public interest in releasing the information requested. Any public interest would be best served by

upholding the exemption under section 31 of the Act as disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the prevention of crime by enabling or encouraging the commission of offences.

The table below shows the list of Public Health Funerals undertaken by ESBC with the breakdown of costs per year: