A death must be registered within five days and in the district the death happened. If the Coroner is investigating the circumstances around the death, there may be a delay to registering the death until the coroner has completed their investigations.
Medical certificate
When a loved one passes away, you'll need to get the medical cause of death certificate issued by a medical practitioner. You'll need this certificate to register the death and for your loved one to be buried.
The medical cause of death certificate will be provided by:
- the GP, if your loved one passed away at home or at a care home under the active care of a GP
- the attending doctor, if your loved one passed away at a hospital or hospice.
Certificate for burial
Once you have the medical cause of death certificate, you'll need to contact the registrar, who will issue a certificate for burial. Please visit the register a death page for further information.
An emergency certificate for burial can be issued by the Bury Registrar Office out of hours service between Friday 4.30pm and 9am Monday.
Alternatively, you may contact a Muslim community representative:
- Mr Liaqat Ali 0161 766 6324 or 07877196526
- Mr Mohammed Akram 07709231949
- Mr Shazad Ahmad 07951515115.
In some cases, an emergency certificate for burial may not be issued if the:
- cause of death is not known
- death was caused by an accident
- death was sudden
- death is referred to the Coroner, who will issue an different certificate for you to provide to us.
If a post-mortem or other investigation is needed such as MRI scanning, this may delay the funeral by a day or two.
The registrar will issue two important documents; the certificate of burial and the certificate of registration of death.
Funeral arrangements
If you use a Funeral Director, you must give them the certificate of burial as soon as possible. They will use this to take possession of the deceased from the hospital mortuary. You can then decide if your loved one is to be taken to a place of worship, home or the Funeral Directors mortuary.
The Funeral Director will contact cemetery officials to request a date and time for the funeral. They will transport your loved one to the cemetery and give the burial certificate to a cemetery official.
Please be aware that there are health and safety regulations to ensure that the vault is closed and all soil is returned to the grave during daylight hours. This means that funerals are not allowed to take place:
- after 3pm on any day in summer
- after 2pm on any day in winter.
Notice of burial
If you prefer not to use a Funeral Director, you will need to arrange the funeral by contacting Bury Cemetery Office. You must have the legal certificate of burial before booking the funeral.
From the Bury Cemetery Office, you must request and complete a formal application and indemnity for burial form. The form confirms your booking and completes a binding contract over the funeral and will need to be returned to the Cemetery Office as soon as possible on the day of the burial.
Booking a burial
When arranging a funeral, you'll need to provide the following information to book a burial:
- Funeral date and time: for when the funeral cortege will arrive at the cemetery gates
- Details of the deceased: name, age and address of the deceased (if the deceased did not live in the borough of Bury, there is an additional fee)
- Type of burial: whether the burial will be in a coffin, casket or shroud
- Grave size: you'll need to inform us of the coffin or shroud size to ensure the grave is prepared to the correct size. Generally, the dimensions of the grave are 8 foot by 3 foot 2 inches, with a 12 inch space between each grave
- Type of grave: whether the grave is a vault or earthen
- Person arranging the funeral: this can be the Funeral Director or a family member. This person is responsible for paying the required fees and making sure that the burial certificate and all completed paperwork are given to Bury Cemetery Office.
If you need to book a funeral outside of normal hours, please contact our out of hours team.
For more information, please visit: