Consultation on Flax Bourton Mortuary Charging Byelaw Proposal

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This consultation has now concluded.


Overview

Bristol City Council is consulting on a new byelaw that would make some changes to how we operate the mortuary at Flax Bourton. The proposed changes would also apply to any other mortuaries that Bristol City Council may provide in future.

Flax Bourton Public and Forensic Mortuary provides mortuary and autopsy services for the Senior Coroner for Avon. The mortuary is used to investigate unexplained or unnatural deaths that occur in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset council areas. You can read additional information about the work of the Avon coroner here.

All four councils pay for the costs of running the mortuary, through local council taxation of residents. The proposals in the new byelaw may affect funeral businesses and people who use them in any of the four council areas.

When the coroner has finished investigating the cause and other details of a death, she releases the deceased person for collection by a funeral director. The funeral director, who is usually appointed by the deceased person’s family, is then responsible for collecting the deceased person as quickly as possible and storing the deceased until they are buried or cremated. There is increasing pressure on storage capacity at Flax Bourton mortuary. This is partly due to some funeral directors not collecting deceased people promptly.

Bereaved people can expect the payment they make to funeral directors and direct cremation companies to include the cost of storing their deceased relatives/friends until the funeral or cremation/burial. At the moment, funeral businesses make no payment to help to cover the costs of keeping the deceased at Flax Bourton Mortuary. This means the cost is borne by taxpayers.

Bristol City Council proposes to pass a byelaw in 2023 that would permit the council to start charging for storing a deceased person at Flax Bourton Mortuary if they are not collected within three working days of the coroner’s release date. Full details of what we are proposing are described below.


Pressure on storage capacity at Flax Bourton Mortuary

There is increasing pressure on storage capacity and costs of running Flax Bourton Mortuary and other local mortuaries. This is due to increasing population and more people dying, an increase in the average time between a person’s death and their funeral (meaning deceased people need to be stored for longer), and the growth of ‘no frills’ funeral services that operate without their own mortuary capacity. In addition, some funeral directors are not collecting deceased people promptly. Similar trends are increasing pressure on mortuaries across the country.

You can read more about the reasons why there is growing pressure on mortuary facilities here.

In response to these pressures on mortuary space, local NHS hospital mortuaries and the two largest funeral directors in the former Avon area have significantly increased their mortuary storage capacity in recent years.

However, some funeral directors still do not have enough mortuary capacity and are keeping deceased people at Flax Bourton Public and Forensic Mortuary for long periods after the coroner has released the bodies for collection. This is further concentrating pressure on the Flax Bourton Mortuary and means that the taxpayer is paying to store the deceased people for longer, while the private funeral companies keep the fees paid by the families as profit.

An extension to the deceased storage area of Flax Bourton Mortuary is planned for late 2023 to expand capacity for the coroner’s cases. However, even after the extension is built, Flax Bourton Mortuary will have limited capacity to store additional deceased people, such as those who have been released by the coroner and are now the responsibility of private funeral directors.

The four councils responsible for funding Flax Bourton Mortuary cannot afford to continue to subsidise the operations of private funeral directors in the way that we do now.

The proposals in this consultation are intended to manage this pressure at Flax Bourton Mortuary and to allocate the costs more fairly from the local authorities to private funeral directors.


What we are proposing

Bristol City Council proposes to pass a byelaw in 2023 that would permit the council to start charging for storing a deceased person at Flax Bourton Mortuary if they are not collected within three working days of the coroner’s release date.

After three working days, a charge would be applied for each day the deceased person remains at Flax Bourton mortuary. The amount of the daily charge would be set with the aim of encouraging prompt collection, not for the purpose of making a profit, and would be publicised on the council’s website. We expect the charge to be in the range of £100 to £200 per day. This may be varied from time to time in line with changes in costs or as needed to encourage prompt collection. Any charges paid will be used to maintain and operate the mortuary.

The charges would be paid by the appointed funeral director or direct cremation company. If a funeral director is not appointed, the family or friends would be responsible for paying the charges.

We propose that charges would start on 1 April 2025, to allow time for funeral companies to source alternative mortuary space. These charges would also apply to any future mortuary provided by Bristol City Council.

The wording in the proposed byelaw that describes this is as follows.


Storage of deceased after discharge note issued

For the purposes of ensuring the efficient running of any mortuary provided by Bristol City Council, any dead body for which a release note has been issued shall be removed as soon as reasonably possible and in any event no later than three working days after the issue of the release note.

Should a body not be collected within three working days of the issue of the release note, then the person or organisation collecting the body shall be liable for a daily charge for each day after that third working day, the amount of such charge which shall be publicised on the council’s website.


The proposed byelaw also includes new health and safety changes. These are a requirement for at least two people to attend Flax Bourton Mortuary when collecting a deceased person, and for people to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when collecting a deceased person.

You can read the full text of the proposed byelaw here.

In this consultation, we are asking for your views on this proposal.


Reasons for the proposals

The proposals are intended to encourage funeral directors and direct cremation companies to take deceased bodies promptly into their care, once released by the coroner. This will free up mortuary space at Flax Bourton Mortuary for the work of the coroner during investigations, and for deceased people for whom the local authority needs time to try to contact relatives or friends.

Bereaved people can expect the payment they make to funeral directors and direct cremation companies to include the cost of storing their deceased relatives/friends until the funeral or cremation/burial. The councils that fund Flax Bourton Mortuary want the cost of storing deceased people, once they are released by the coroner, to be paid for by the funeral companies and not to be subsidised by council taxpayers of Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset councils.

If this proposal is implemented, we think it will have the following effects:

  • Funeral directors will promptly move deceased people to their own mortuaries and funeral homes and not leave deceased people in public mortuaries for long periods of time after discharge.
  • Funeral directors will ensure they have enough storage for deceased people for whom they are responsible, including at times of peak workload.
  • If funeral directors have inadequate storage on a temporary basis for deceased people in their care, funeral directors would pay the public sector the full cost to temporarily store deceased people until their own storage becomes sufficient. This is only anticipated as a short-term measure.
  • Direct cremation companies will change their business operating model to include the cost of providing their own storage for deceased people. (Currently these private companies are using public mortuaries for free.)
  • There will be enough mortuary space at Flax Bourton for the work of the Avon Coroner to investigate cause of death, and to store other deceased people whose relatives and friends need to be searched for, or who are awaiting a public health funeral.
  • Families will promptly appoint a funeral director to ensure an appropriate resting place for a loved one prior to the funeral/cremation/burial and to avoid direct charges to themselves.


Other options we considered but do not propose to take forward

No change to the way we operate and maintain Flax Bourton Mortuary

We considered if Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset councils could continue to operate and maintain Flax Bourton mortuary in the way we do now. This would mean the publicly-funded mortuary providing space, without charge and for an unlimited period of time, to store deceased people who are the responsibility of funeral directors and direct cremation companies.

We do not propose to take this option forward, for the following reason:

  • Due to increasing pressure on storage capacity at Flax Bourton Mortuary, there would not be enough mortuary space for the essential work of the coroner during investigations, and to store deceased people for whom the local authority needs time to try to contact relatives or friends.

Build more publicly-funded mortuary capacity

We considered if the councils should build more mortuary capacity, in addition to that which is already planned for the essential work of the coroner and for public health funerals.

We do not propose to take this option forward, for the following reasons:

  • With reduced government funding and increasing demand for the mortuary services the councils must provide, we cannot afford to continue to expand deceased storage space at Flax Bourton mortuary with the space on site and budgets available. The storage area at Flax Bourton mortuary is being expanded in 2023 but there is no space or funding to expand further.
  • We do not think it is reasonable or fair to continue to provide taxpayer-funded mortuary space, which subsidises private funeral companies that are charging relatives of the deceased for this service.


Have your say

This consultation has now closed. We are reviewing your feedback.


What happens next?

All responses to this consultation will be analysed and the feedback will help us develop final proposals for the Flax Bourton Public and Forensic Mortuary Charging Byelaw Proposal. The final decisions about the byelaw proposal will be taken in public by Full Council in late 2023/early 2024. Full Council will take the responses to the consultation into consideration when making their decisions.

You can find details of forthcoming Full Council meetings and their agendas at democracy.bristol.gov.uk.

Decisions made will be shared at democracy.bristol.gov.uk and on this page.



Overview

Bristol City Council is consulting on a new byelaw that would make some changes to how we operate the mortuary at Flax Bourton. The proposed changes would also apply to any other mortuaries that Bristol City Council may provide in future.

Flax Bourton Public and Forensic Mortuary provides mortuary and autopsy services for the Senior Coroner for Avon. The mortuary is used to investigate unexplained or unnatural deaths that occur in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset council areas. You can read additional information about the work of the Avon coroner here.

All four councils pay for the costs of running the mortuary, through local council taxation of residents. The proposals in the new byelaw may affect funeral businesses and people who use them in any of the four council areas.

When the coroner has finished investigating the cause and other details of a death, she releases the deceased person for collection by a funeral director. The funeral director, who is usually appointed by the deceased person’s family, is then responsible for collecting the deceased person as quickly as possible and storing the deceased until they are buried or cremated. There is increasing pressure on storage capacity at Flax Bourton mortuary. This is partly due to some funeral directors not collecting deceased people promptly.

Bereaved people can expect the payment they make to funeral directors and direct cremation companies to include the cost of storing their deceased relatives/friends until the funeral or cremation/burial. At the moment, funeral businesses make no payment to help to cover the costs of keeping the deceased at Flax Bourton Mortuary. This means the cost is borne by taxpayers.

Bristol City Council proposes to pass a byelaw in 2023 that would permit the council to start charging for storing a deceased person at Flax Bourton Mortuary if they are not collected within three working days of the coroner’s release date. Full details of what we are proposing are described below.


Pressure on storage capacity at Flax Bourton Mortuary

There is increasing pressure on storage capacity and costs of running Flax Bourton Mortuary and other local mortuaries. This is due to increasing population and more people dying, an increase in the average time between a person’s death and their funeral (meaning deceased people need to be stored for longer), and the growth of ‘no frills’ funeral services that operate without their own mortuary capacity. In addition, some funeral directors are not collecting deceased people promptly. Similar trends are increasing pressure on mortuaries across the country.

You can read more about the reasons why there is growing pressure on mortuary facilities here.

In response to these pressures on mortuary space, local NHS hospital mortuaries and the two largest funeral directors in the former Avon area have significantly increased their mortuary storage capacity in recent years.

However, some funeral directors still do not have enough mortuary capacity and are keeping deceased people at Flax Bourton Public and Forensic Mortuary for long periods after the coroner has released the bodies for collection. This is further concentrating pressure on the Flax Bourton Mortuary and means that the taxpayer is paying to store the deceased people for longer, while the private funeral companies keep the fees paid by the families as profit.

An extension to the deceased storage area of Flax Bourton Mortuary is planned for late 2023 to expand capacity for the coroner’s cases. However, even after the extension is built, Flax Bourton Mortuary will have limited capacity to store additional deceased people, such as those who have been released by the coroner and are now the responsibility of private funeral directors.

The four councils responsible for funding Flax Bourton Mortuary cannot afford to continue to subsidise the operations of private funeral directors in the way that we do now.

The proposals in this consultation are intended to manage this pressure at Flax Bourton Mortuary and to allocate the costs more fairly from the local authorities to private funeral directors.


What we are proposing

Bristol City Council proposes to pass a byelaw in 2023 that would permit the council to start charging for storing a deceased person at Flax Bourton Mortuary if they are not collected within three working days of the coroner’s release date.

After three working days, a charge would be applied for each day the deceased person remains at Flax Bourton mortuary. The amount of the daily charge would be set with the aim of encouraging prompt collection, not for the purpose of making a profit, and would be publicised on the council’s website. We expect the charge to be in the range of £100 to £200 per day. This may be varied from time to time in line with changes in costs or as needed to encourage prompt collection. Any charges paid will be used to maintain and operate the mortuary.

The charges would be paid by the appointed funeral director or direct cremation company. If a funeral director is not appointed, the family or friends would be responsible for paying the charges.

We propose that charges would start on 1 April 2025, to allow time for funeral companies to source alternative mortuary space. These charges would also apply to any future mortuary provided by Bristol City Council.

The wording in the proposed byelaw that describes this is as follows.


Storage of deceased after discharge note issued

For the purposes of ensuring the efficient running of any mortuary provided by Bristol City Council, any dead body for which a release note has been issued shall be removed as soon as reasonably possible and in any event no later than three working days after the issue of the release note.

Should a body not be collected within three working days of the issue of the release note, then the person or organisation collecting the body shall be liable for a daily charge for each day after that third working day, the amount of such charge which shall be publicised on the council’s website.


The proposed byelaw also includes new health and safety changes. These are a requirement for at least two people to attend Flax Bourton Mortuary when collecting a deceased person, and for people to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when collecting a deceased person.

You can read the full text of the proposed byelaw here.

In this consultation, we are asking for your views on this proposal.


Reasons for the proposals

The proposals are intended to encourage funeral directors and direct cremation companies to take deceased bodies promptly into their care, once released by the coroner. This will free up mortuary space at Flax Bourton Mortuary for the work of the coroner during investigations, and for deceased people for whom the local authority needs time to try to contact relatives or friends.

Bereaved people can expect the payment they make to funeral directors and direct cremation companies to include the cost of storing their deceased relatives/friends until the funeral or cremation/burial. The councils that fund Flax Bourton Mortuary want the cost of storing deceased people, once they are released by the coroner, to be paid for by the funeral companies and not to be subsidised by council taxpayers of Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset councils.

If this proposal is implemented, we think it will have the following effects:

  • Funeral directors will promptly move deceased people to their own mortuaries and funeral homes and not leave deceased people in public mortuaries for long periods of time after discharge.
  • Funeral directors will ensure they have enough storage for deceased people for whom they are responsible, including at times of peak workload.
  • If funeral directors have inadequate storage on a temporary basis for deceased people in their care, funeral directors would pay the public sector the full cost to temporarily store deceased people until their own storage becomes sufficient. This is only anticipated as a short-term measure.
  • Direct cremation companies will change their business operating model to include the cost of providing their own storage for deceased people. (Currently these private companies are using public mortuaries for free.)
  • There will be enough mortuary space at Flax Bourton for the work of the Avon Coroner to investigate cause of death, and to store other deceased people whose relatives and friends need to be searched for, or who are awaiting a public health funeral.
  • Families will promptly appoint a funeral director to ensure an appropriate resting place for a loved one prior to the funeral/cremation/burial and to avoid direct charges to themselves.


Other options we considered but do not propose to take forward

No change to the way we operate and maintain Flax Bourton Mortuary

We considered if Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset councils could continue to operate and maintain Flax Bourton mortuary in the way we do now. This would mean the publicly-funded mortuary providing space, without charge and for an unlimited period of time, to store deceased people who are the responsibility of funeral directors and direct cremation companies.

We do not propose to take this option forward, for the following reason:

  • Due to increasing pressure on storage capacity at Flax Bourton Mortuary, there would not be enough mortuary space for the essential work of the coroner during investigations, and to store deceased people for whom the local authority needs time to try to contact relatives or friends.

Build more publicly-funded mortuary capacity

We considered if the councils should build more mortuary capacity, in addition to that which is already planned for the essential work of the coroner and for public health funerals.

We do not propose to take this option forward, for the following reasons:

  • With reduced government funding and increasing demand for the mortuary services the councils must provide, we cannot afford to continue to expand deceased storage space at Flax Bourton mortuary with the space on site and budgets available. The storage area at Flax Bourton mortuary is being expanded in 2023 but there is no space or funding to expand further.
  • We do not think it is reasonable or fair to continue to provide taxpayer-funded mortuary space, which subsidises private funeral companies that are charging relatives of the deceased for this service.


Have your say

This consultation has now closed. We are reviewing your feedback.


What happens next?

All responses to this consultation will be analysed and the feedback will help us develop final proposals for the Flax Bourton Public and Forensic Mortuary Charging Byelaw Proposal. The final decisions about the byelaw proposal will be taken in public by Full Council in late 2023/early 2024. Full Council will take the responses to the consultation into consideration when making their decisions.

You can find details of forthcoming Full Council meetings and their agendas at democracy.bristol.gov.uk.

Decisions made will be shared at democracy.bristol.gov.uk and on this page.