Direct cremations

AskAsk

I am interested in getting direct cremations for my dad, in the event that he passes away in future.  Unfortunately he is elderly and frail so isn't going to be around for long so I thought I should start looking into the issue.

He lives in London so I wonder if anyone has experience of direct cremations in London or whether I don't actually need to appoint a London based company as direct cremations by implication doesn't involve relations attending a service or the funeral home, so I would guess a company within driving distance to London would work just as well and may be cheaper than appointing a London based company.

I would want to keep my dad's ashes and do a service at sea at a later point as that is what he wants.  So I would need the ashes to be delivered to me.

Bue21

From my experience you can choose between 2 options for direct cremations. Most local funeral directors will offer Some form of low cost unattended cremation. They collect the person and arrange for the cremation at a local crematorium. You can then either have the ashes returned to you or the crematorium will scatter them for you dependant on your preference. 

Alternatively you can use one of the advertised nationwide services. They will operate anywhere in the UK and will arrange to have the person collected and transported to whichever crematorium they have a contract with - this can be some considerable distance from ‘home’. Again the ashes will then be returned to you.

i believe the costs of each are often fairly similar. Direct cremations do not have to be purchased in advance = they can be arranged as the need arises (and are usually slightly cheaper as they don’t need to factor in potential future increases in costs)

if you use a funeral director who is a member of one of the professional associations (NAFD or SAIF) you can be assured that they operate to set standards.

AskAsk

Bue21 said:

From my experience you can choose between 2 options for direct cremations. Most local funeral directors will offer Some form of low cost unattended cremation. They collect the person and arrange for the cremation at a local crematorium. You can then either have the ashes returned to you or the crematorium will scatter them for you dependant on your preference. 

Alternatively you can use one of the advertised nationwide services. They will operate anywhere in the UK and will arrange to have the person collected and transported to whichever crematorium they have a contract with - this can be some considerable distance from ‘home’. Again the ashes will then be returned to you.

i believe the costs of each are often fairly similar. Direct cremations do not have to be purchased in advance = they can be arranged as the need arises (and are usually slightly cheaper as they don’t need to factor in potential future increases in costs)

if you use a funeral director who is a member of one of the professional associations (NAFD or SAIF) you can be assured that they operate to set standards.

thanks.  I have looked on google for direct cremations london and have found a couple that sounds interesting.  one seems to be good at setting out all the charges up front, which is always a good indicator of a good company.

he states that he can arrange for the collection from a hospital or coroner as part of his low cost service, and take the deceased directly to the cremation in london.  however, if the person had died at home or in a care home, then the customer would need to pay an undertaker to collect and keep the body until the day of the cremation when he can come to collect the deceased and take the body to the cremation site.

it is interesting you say that funeral directors will also offer direct cremations themselves so it may be worth me contacting local funeral directors when the time comes to ask for their costs for this service.

update - so I looked at local funeral directors and not all offer direct cremations but the ones that do are twice as much as the dedicated direct cremations only service so it appears that for direct cremations, it is best to go with the companies that specialise in this service only.

Marksfish

A friend of mine used the Pure version of this. He died in MK hospital where he was collected and taken to their crematorium in Andover. He was returned to his mother in Bedford by a driver in a black suit and placed in a tasteful urn.

WYSPECIAL

If you use one on the nationwide chains of funeral directors the price will be the same throughout the country and they will deliver ashes to one of their funeral homes near to you.

If you do it as a pre paid plan it will be more expensive that today's at need price but you should be able to find details for both on their websites.

cherry76

I have just used a direct cremation for my dad I choosed a local funeral director as we wanted to add a special touch. Mum did not want to collect, cremate and return, He was kept locally the funeral director has their own mortuary in situ. We were allowed to choose what we wanted him to be cremated in. We were able to view him at the chapel of rest. The hearse stopped on the way to the crematorium and we put flowers on the coffin at mums request. It’s only the service that was missing and mourners at the crematorium. Mum is going to take his ashes to his homeland. Hope this helps.