Government updates on new laws to tackle rogue funeral firms

A minister has said the government is working on new laws to "drive rogue operators out of the funeral industry".

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Yvette Cooper gave a written update to Parliament on proposed legislation to regulate undertakers.

It comes after a Hull funeral home director was jailed last month for failing to bury or cremate people and giving bereaved relatives the ashes of strangers.

Robert Bush was sent to prison for 20 years after he admitted 67 offences, including denying 30 people a decent and proper burial, theft from charities, and fraudulent trading over a period of almost 12 years.

During his sentencing, Hull Crown Court heard that 35 bodies and more than 100 sets of ashes were found by police raiding Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in March 2024.

Bush, 48, of Otley in West Yorkshire, was "preoccupied with his own enrichment", defrauded nearly 200 families out of £562,117 and "caused anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension", the judge said.

Cooper said Bush's actions were "utterly abhorrent, and my thoughts remain with all the bereaved families in Hull who were so badly let down."

She said that, as part of the plans, the Law Commission would review the criminal law in relation to the deceased and "consider any gaps in existing legal protections and make recommendations on the creation of new offences, if they are needed".

Cooper said detailed plans and the timetable for their introduction would be announced "in due course".

The funeral industry in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is currently self-regulating, relying on voluntary codes and inspections by trade associations.

Anyone can set up as a funeral director without formal training, registration or oversight.

MPs and families affected by Bush's crimes have been lobbying for change.

Nigel Hotham's uncle, Mark Hotham, died in September 2023 and his body was later found in Bush's funeral parlour.

"It's easier to open a funeral director's than it is to open a sandwich shop – and there's more regulation around sandwich shops than there is funeral directors," he said.

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