Bereavement service reports

We are asked often for the following information about these funerals from various sources -

• full names of the deceased
• dates of death
• marital status
• maiden surnames of married or widowed females
• dates of birth or ages at death
• last known addresses
• estimated value of estates
• dates when the information was passed.
• information that is about to be or likely to be passed to
  • the Government Legal Department
  • the Duchy of Lancaster or Cornwall
  • any other third party

We have decided to publish this information on a bi-monthly basis. This is to promote open data and transparency. It is also to avoid repeat requests for the same information.

We are able to publish this data because the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations 2016 only applies to living individuals. It does not protect the privacy of deceased persons.

Although we do publish some address details, we don’t give out specific house numbers or names. This is because Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to withhold information which could affect the prevention and detection of crime. 

We believe that as the deceased’s property is likely to be unoccupied and may still contain personal papers and belongings; making the last known address of the deceased public, would be likely to prejudice the prevention of crime by enabling or encouraging the commission of offences.

We have published details of Public Health (Community Funerals) dealt with from 2015 onwards. Updates to existing cases listed plus the details for any new cases will be added every 2 months as they arise. This was last updated 14 July 2023.

Burial and cremation totals

There also seems to be interest in the total numbers of burials and cremations held per year. These figures including Public Health Funerals. We have decided to publish this bi-monthly as well. We have published yearly figures from 2015 onwards.