Thousands of collections of human ashes are being stored unclaimed in funeral parlours and crematoriums around Scotland, it has emerged.
Most of the ashes pre-date regulations introduced in 2019, which gave relatives a month to collect the remains of their loved ones after a cremation before allowing staff to dispose of them.
The existence of the uncollected ashes has been revealed through freedom of information laws by Robert Swanson, Scotland’s senior inspector of burial, cremation and funeral directors.
It highlights the lack of formal regulation in the funeral industry, which is under scrutiny after a series of scandals. Legislation has been passed to introduce a code of practice for funeral directors in Scotland, although, this will not come into effect until next year.
One case investigated by Swanson involved a family which was told by an undertaking firm that they could not retrieve a relative’s body unless storage costs were paid.
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In another case, Swanson investigated relatives’ concerns that the ashes they had received were not those of their deceased mother. He assured the relatives that he was confident they had been given the correct ashes but explained the potential for confusion caused by uncollected ashes.
Swanson said that before the cremation regulations were enacted, the lack of a statutory requirement regarding uncollected ashes meant there “are currently several thousand uncollected ashes held by funeral directors and crematoria throughout the country”.
He said: “Most funeral directors, especially the larger branches, have devised their own procedures for trying to identify and inform relatives that ashes are still held by them. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons only a small percentage of those uncollected ashes, going back many years, have been collected.
“Often people are content that they are held where they believe them to be stored at a safe and appropriate location, often people have moved away, family disputes over who should have them, etc.
“Since 2019 there are, as you would expect, very few ashes which remain on the shelves uncollected, as legislation now provides for the ashes to be dispersed after the given timescales.”
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Swanson became involved in the case of the withheld body in 2021. According to his report, a staff member at Blades Funeral Directors in Irvine, North Ayrshire, told a dead woman’s family that her body could not be placed into the care of a second undertaker until they paid him £170.
The second undertaker, John H Glen & Sons, of Alexandria, complained to Swanson that its repeated attempts to arrange for the transfer of the body were blocked by the staff member at Blades, who “insisted on payment for his services before the deceased would be released”.
When they gained entry, Glen staff allegedly found the woman’s body “still positioned on a trolley on the floor” where it had been placed four days earlier.
Kevin Blades, the owner, denied the allegations. “We would never hold a body for ransom, we’re just not like that. We look after each family as if they were our own,” he said.
He also denied any knowledge of the complaint made against his company.
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In his report, Swanson said he made contact with the funeral directors after several failed attempts, noting that the firm was “aware of the feelings of the family” but had not apologised to them.
He added that his request to visit the funeral parlour in Irvine was refused.
Swanson, who has limited powers in his role as senior inspector, placed the details of the complaint on record but took no further action, according to the report.
The case highlights concerns over the way Scotland’s funeral industry is regulated. It emerged last week that police found the ashes of a woman who died three years ago during a raid of a funeral home months after her family believed they had scattered them.
A Milne, a Glasgow-based funeral director, has been accused of mismanaging finances and human remains and is being investigated by Police Scotland.
