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The big decision

Burial or cremation

About four in five UK funerals are cremations. The choice affects cost more than any other single decision, and it is the one thing people most often left an opinion about.

Published 4 min read

What actually drives the decision

For most families, one of four things:

  1. What the person wanted. More often stated than families expect, and worth asking around for. It carries no legal force anywhere in the UK, but it settles arguments.
  2. Faith. Islam and orthodox Judaism require burial; most Christian denominations permit both; Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism generally favour cremation. If faith is a factor it is usually the whole answer.
  3. Money. Burial costs roughly twice what cremation does, and in some areas considerably more than that.
  4. Whether there needs to be a place. This is the one people underestimate, and the one that comes back a year later. Some people need somewhere to go and stand. Others find a grave a burden they visit out of duty. Neither is wrong, but it is worth asking honestly which kind of family you are.

Cremation

About four in five UK funerals. The crematorium fee covers the cremation and the use of the chapel for a service, typically in a slot of twenty to forty-five minutes.

Points people are not told:

  • Early-morning and unattended slots are much cheaper at many crematoria — sometimes half price. If a service is being held elsewhere anyway, this is free money.
  • The slot is short. If forty minutes is not enough for the number of people who will come, hold the real gathering somewhere else and use the crematorium for a brief committal.
  • Ashes come back within a few days, and there is no deadline for deciding what to do with them. See urns and scatter tubes .
  • The coffin is cremated with the person. Coffins are not reused; that is a persistent rumour and it is false.
  • Metal is removed afterwards — hip and knee replacements, plates and screws — and recycled through a national scheme, with proceeds going to bereavement charities. You will be asked to consent, and consent is normal.

Burial

More expensive, more permanent, and much more variable by area.

You pay for two separate things: the exclusive right of burial, which is the right to be buried in that plot for a fixed term, and the interment fee, which is the burial itself. A memorial is a third cost entirely, usually incurred six to twelve months later once the ground has settled.

Things worth knowing before choosing it:

  • Non-resident charges. Most councils charge double or triple for someone who did not live in the area. This can be over a thousand pounds and it catches families constantly.
  • The right expires. Fifty to a hundred years, renewable. Somebody has to be alive, contactable and paying attention.
  • Reopening an existing family grave is much cheaper than a new one, if there is room and the deed holder consents. Ask before assuming a new grave is needed.
  • Churchyards are frequently full, and burial in one is not automatic even for a parishioner. Ask the parish early rather than assuming.

Natural burial

The third option, and a growing one: over 300 sites now operate in the UK, from meadows and woodlands to sites within conventional cemeteries.

The rules are broadly consistent: a biodegradable coffin or shroud, no embalming, no conventional headstone. What marks the grave is a tree, a wildflower plot, or a small communal memorial, with the location recorded by GPS. Sites are managed as habitat, and many are held in long-term conservation trust.

Costs are frequently below a conventional grave, sometimes well below. What varies is the rules, which are set site by site — get them in writing before ordering a coffin. See coffins for what is generally accepted.

What a funeral costs · Coffins · What to do with ashes · Planning the service

  • Burial costs roughly twice as much

    The grave and the interment together usually exceed the entire funeral director's fee, and vary enormously by council. Cremation fees are far more consistent.

  • A grave is not forever

    You buy the exclusive right of burial for a term — commonly 50 to 100 years — not the land. The right can usually be renewed, and somebody has to remember to do it.

  • Natural burial is a third option

    Over 300 natural burial grounds now operate in the UK: no headstones, biodegradable coffins, a field or a wood instead of a cemetery. Often cheaper than a conventional grave.

Questions people ask us most

Which is cheaper, burial or cremation?
Cremation, and usually by a wide margin. A cremation fee is typically £800 to £1,200. A burial requires both the exclusive right of burial (£1,000 to £4,500, depending entirely on the local authority) and an interment fee (£800 to £1,800), before any memorial. In parts of London a grave alone can cost more than an entire cremation funeral elsewhere in the country.
Do I own the grave?
No. You buy the exclusive right of burial in that plot for a fixed term — commonly 50, 75 or 100 years depending on the cemetery. The land remains the burial authority’s. The right can normally be extended when it expires, and cemeteries write to the registered holder, which is why keeping the deed and your address up to date matters more than anybody expects.
Can ashes be buried?
Yes, and it is common: in a dedicated ashes plot, in an existing family grave, in a churchyard, at a natural burial ground, or on private land with the owner’s consent. It costs far less than a full burial and gives a place to visit, which is the thing families most often miss after a cremation. See what to do with ashes .
What is a natural or woodland burial?
Burial in a field, meadow or wood managed for conservation rather than as a cemetery. Biodegradable coffin or shroud only, no embalming, and normally no headstone — a tree, a wildflower plot or a discreet marker instead, with the grave recorded by GPS. There are over 300 sites in the UK. Costs are comparable to or below a conventional grave, and rules vary from site to site, so get theirs in writing.
How long does each take to arrange?
Both usually two to three weeks, driven by crematorium or cemetery availability rather than by anything else. Cremation slots are often the constraint in busy areas; grave digging depends on ground conditions and can be delayed by weather. Where a faith requires burial within a day or two, registrars, coroners and burial authorities all have arrangements for expediting it — say so immediately.
Can you be buried in your own garden?
In England and Wales it is lawful with the landowner’s consent, subject to Environment Agency guidance on distance from watercourses and boreholes, and it must be recorded. It is legal and it is rarely a good idea: it complicates selling the house, it can reduce the value, and exhumation later requires a licence. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules. Take advice before committing to it.

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