Agenda item

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Steven Smithson, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, about the proposal to introduce a weekend burial service and to request funding to implement its introduction.

Councillor Smithson highlighted some key points within the report

Councillor Sajid Mahmood noted that the Muslim community had been asking for this service for many years, but that under the previous administration no progress appeared to have been made. He congratulated Councillor Smithson, who with support from himself, Councillor Younis and the MP, had been able to introduce this service.  Councillor Paddy Short welcomed the new service and believed it would be a great asset to the community.  He asked if this would impact on the employment contracts of Borough Council staff.  Councillor Smithson responded that a private contractor would carry out the work, which included an on call facility from 8am to 11am for a same day burial.

Councillor Short asked about the timescales expected for Muslim burials and Councillor Dad responded that this was simply as soon as possible.

Councillor Younis spoke in support of the weekend burial service and noted that this would mean that Hyndburn families would no longer need to approach neighbouring authorities if a weekend burial was preferred.  He expressed disappointment that Opposition councillors had been pictured in the media, when the current political administration had introduced this service.  He noted that the service was good news for the whole community, not just Muslims.  Councillor Dad responded that the weekend burial service had been on all councillors’ mind for a long time, but that until recently, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for the service had been uncertain.  Other elements of the process needed to be put in place by the Registrars Service and Coroners Service, which had only occurred within the last few years.  The Opposition welcomed this report.  Councillor Noordad Aziz mentioned that the cross-party Hyndburn Burial Committee had played an integral part in the development of this service and that the conversation about weekend burials had been had been prompted by some key individuals from within the local Asian community.

Councillor Smithson summed up by thanking Craig Haraben, Head of Environmental Services, for his work in developing the service and reiterated that the current administration had brought this to fruition.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The Council, as burial authority, had a duty to provide cemeteries in the Borough for residents to be buried.  Currently the Council had four cemeteries in Accrington, Church, Rishton and Great Harwood which took coffin burials, albeit Great Harwood was full for new graves and any coffin burials were undertaken via re-opening family graves.

The Council via the Cemetery Service undertook approximately 125 coffin burials per year across the Boroughs four cemeteries.  Within the Cemetery Service fees and charges there was a cost to the customer to dig a grave for a coffin burial in one of the Council’s cemeteries.

The majority of coffin burials were undertaken during normal working hours (Monday to Friday).  There were some requests for burials at weekends, however as staff were not contracted to routinely work weekends any burials at weekends were undertaken if staff were available to work overtime.  This did mean there were times when staff were not available to work overtime and in such circumstances the burial could not take place at weekends.  Management had undertaken discussions with existing cemetery staff about how the Council could safely and reliably provide weekend burials by amending rotas and other working arrangements, however it had not been possible to find an agreeable way forward.

In addition, in some religions (e.g. Islam and Judaism) there was a religious requirement that people were buried as soon as possible after the bereavement.  Having no formal working arrangements in place for weekends meant that if a bereavement took place in the Muslim community on a Friday afternoon or over the weekend, a burial could not usually be facilitated until the following Monday (or Tuesday if a bank holiday weekend).

To ensure Hyndburn residents had the opportunity to hold burials at weekend if they wished to, the Council had carried out a tender exercise seeking a contractor with suitable skills and equipment who could be available on call at weekends to undertake burials.  The tender exercise had been completed, with the outcome that a suitable contractor had been identified.  If Cabinet adopted the weekend burial service customers would be able to routinely book a burial for weekends or bank holidays (excluding Christmas day and New Years day).  For short notice burials, customers would be able to ring an on call number between 8am and 11am on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays (excluding Christmas day and New Year’s day) to book a burial for that afternoon.  After 11am customers would need to ring the following day to book a burial.

There was a cost to having a contractor on call for weekends and bank holidays of £20,000 per annum.  In addition to this cost, each time the contractor was called out to dig a grave for a burial there was a further charge of £800 per grave.  There was a surcharge of £500 to the customer to have a burial at weekend or on bank holidays in one of the Borough’s cemeteries. In the absence of any service data relating to the number of burials which took place at weekends and bank holidays, it was estimated there would be six weekend/bank holiday burials per year, however this might change depending on death rates.

This meant that the estimated surcharge income relating to weekend and bank holiday burials was £3,000 and the cost of providing the service was estimated at £24,800.  As this work was currently not budgeted for, Cabinet would need to approve funding the difference of £21,800 per annum or part thereof for this proposed new service, should they agree to take it forward.

As it was unclear currently what the demand for this service would be, it was proposed that the service would need to be reviewed annually for the first few years of its operation, so that the budget requirement and the fees payable by customers could be reviewed and adjusted as necessary.

The registrars service worked at weekends, so necessary registration paperwork could be accessed for any short notice burials at weekends.  As such, this should not be a barrier to facilitating weekend burials and would not generate additional costs for the Council.

The funding for the increase in costs in 2023/24 and 2024/25 would require a small increase in the current savings target approved for 2023/2024 of £16,500 and £21,800 to be added to any future savings targets for 2024/25, subject to requirements as part of the full Council budget approval for 2024/2025.

Alternative Options considered and Reasons for Rejection

The Council could continue not providing a reliable weekend burial service.  This had been rejected as residents in Hyndburn had requested this service and it did allow the Council to facilitate short notice burials when there were bereavements at weekends and there was a religious requirement for a burial as soon as possible after the bereavement.  Weekend burials were available already at other local authorities within Lancashire (such as Blackburn with Darwen, Preston, Burnley, Lancaster and Pendle) and this service was coming to be expected as part of the standard service offered by burial authorities to enable appropriate provision for all citizens.

Another option would be for the Council to employ additional staff or introduce changes to the contractual terms of current staff without agreement.  This had been rejected as cemetery staff already worked on Monday to Friday with occasional overtime and a minimum of two members of staff were needed to safely undertake this type of work.  The option proposed in the report was considered a more reliable and economical option, which could be reviewed in the longer term.

The Council could increase the £500 surcharge for weekend and bank holidays burials to recover some or all of the cost of providing this service, but this was discounted by the Portfolio Holder until there was more data available relating to the demand for the service.

Resolved                                    -    That Cabinet

(1)    Notes the report.

(2)   Agrees to enter into an agreement with a contractor to deliver a weekend burial service for an initial two year period.

(3)   Supports the introduction of a weekend burial service and allocates £16,500 from the Council’s budget for 2023/24 to fund the service for the remainder of the current financial year.

(4)   Notes the requirement to allocate £21,800 to fund the weekend burial service from the Council’s 2024/25 revenue budget, subject to approval of the Council’s budget for 2024/25.

(5)   Agrees to increase the savings targets required within the 2023/24 & 2024/25 budgets to fund these budget increases within the approved budget resource.

(6)   Delegates authority to the Head of Environmental Services, following consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder and Executive Director (Legal and Democratic Service) to take all reasonable steps to implement the weekend burial service, including entering into any necessary agreements with the contractor, finalising a call out protocol and agreeing any minor amendments to the new service should anything arise once the service is implemented.

Members next considered Agenda Items 11 to 12.