Bath and NE Somerset Council unveils direct cremation offering

Bath and North East Somerset Council has started offering lower-cost direct cremations that do not include a ceremony to accommodate the wishes of loved ones and their families and friends, if this is something they expressly want.

At the council’s Haycombe Cemetery and Crematorium, the option of unattended or attended direct cremations can now be arranged with the assistance of the family’s funeral director, as well as a range of traditional services such as full body burials, memorials and private plots for ashes. 

Unattended direct cremations, which do not include funeral services or ceremonies, celebrants or attendees, cost less than traditional funerals and can be followed at a later date by a memorial service, celebration of life or scattering of ashes. 

Meanwhile, an attended direct cremation differs in that up to six mourners can attend Haycombe’s Orchard Entrance, a bespoke and respectful space, where families can spend a few minutes saying their goodbyes before their loved one is taken into the council’s care.

Haycombe Crematorium is the only facility in the area that offers attended direct cremations.

Cllr Tim Ball, cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “There is so much to consider when organising a funeral. By raising awareness of the services and support we offer at Haycombe, we hope it will be easier for people to make informed choices at a very upsetting time. 

“It can be uncomfortable to talk about, but there is a cost of dying that can put families into poverty or make it impossible for them to arrange the kind of funeral they imagined. We hope that our simpler cremation options will enable families to arrange a dignified way to say goodbye without experiencing financial strain.”

Haycombe’s services also include scattering areas and communal shrubbery beds for the interment of ashes, memorials of various types, green burials, private plots for ashes in dedicated gardens and pet burials.