Dignity for the dead: Ministers must end UK's funeral scandal

Dignity for the dead: Ministers must end UK's funeral scandal Families arranging the hardest goodbye of their lives should never be expected to investigate whether a funeral director is competent, honest or safe At the moment of deepest grief, families hand funeral directors something more precious than money. They entrust them with the bodies of the people they love, believing they will be treated with dignity, tenderness and respect when they can no longer speak for themselves. Robert Bush betrayed that sacred trust on a scale beyond comprehension. For 12 years, he denied 30 people a lawful burial, handed grieving relatives the ashes of strangers, stole charity collections and took money for funeral plans that did not exist. While bodies were left in deplorable conditions at his Hull premises, Bush enjoyed expensive holidays and lived well on the proceeds of deceit. Twenty years in prison is a just and necessary sentence. Yet his victims may still feel that no punishment could ever match the anguish, horror and lasting doubt he forced upon hundreds of families. They may never know whether the ashes they scattered belonged to the person they loved. That cruelty will not end as Bush enters his cell. But this case exposes a scandal bigger than one depraved funeral director. In England, anyone can call themselves a funeral director. They need no qualification, licence or compulsory training. There is no statutory system of inspections ensuring premises are suitable or that the dead are being treated with basic human decency. Firms may submit themselves to voluntary oversight through the National Association of Funeral Directors or the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors. While pre-paid funeral plans are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. But neither arrangement closes the disgraceful gap Bush exploited. Trade membership remains optional, while financial regulation cannot guarantee what happens to a loved one once the hearse doors close. Ministers have been warned about this glaring weakness for years. They must stop looking away. We believe every funeral home should be required to hold a licence. Anyone caring for the dead must be properly trained and vetted. Premises must face regular, unannounced inspections, backed by powers to shut businesses immediately and prosecute those who abuse the bereaved. Families arranging the hardest goodbye of their lives should never be expected to investigate whether a funeral director is competent, honest or safe. Bush’s victims were failed by a criminal. They were also failed by a system that allowed him to carry on until the police finally intervened. The Government must close that shameful gap now. Anything less would be another betrayal of the dead and those left to mourn them. It can never be allowed to happen again. Let us hope it already has not.