This is the original version (as it was originally made). This item of legislation is currently only available in its original format.
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/2841), the Coroners (Investigation) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/1629) and the Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1112).
The amendments made by these Regulations reflect a cross-government programme of death certification reform. As part of this reform, the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/492) will require all deaths in England and Wales to be independently reviewed, either by the scrutiny of a medical examiner or by investigation by a coroner.
Regulation 2 amends the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008. Following the implementation of the new statutory medical examiner system in England and Wales, the requirement for a registered medical practitioner to complete a medical certificate where there is no coroner’s certificate or certificate of anatomical examination is removed for the purposes of a medical referee authorising a cremation. Regulation 2 also removes the requirement for the medical referee to be satisfied as to the cause of death, including where a coroner’s certificate or certificate of anatomical examination has been provided.
Regulation 2 further omits forms Cremation 4 (medical certificate) and Cremation 11 (certificate after post-mortem examination) and replaces form Cremation 1 (application for cremation of the body of a person who had died), form Cremation 6 (certificate of coroner) and form Cremation 10 (authorisation of cremation of deceased person by medical referee). It also makes a number of additional consequential amendments, clarifies existing provision and removes now redundant transitional provisions.
The amendments relating to the medical certificate and the role of the medical referee do not have effect in relation to deaths occurring in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands by virtue of inserted regulation 2A.
Regulation 3 amends the Coroners (Investigation) Regulations 2013 to replace Form 2 (notice of discontinuance) and Form 3 (coroner’s order for burial).
Regulation 4 amends the Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019, which impose a duty on registered medical practitioners to notify a senior coroner of a person's death under certain circumstances. It amends the circumstances in which the duty arises, as well as the contents of the notification, to reflect the wider changes to the death certification system.
Regulation 5 makes transitional provision in respect of the changes made by regulations 2 and 4.
A full impact assessment of the effect that the introduction of the new medical examiner system in England and Wales will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/715242/death-certification-reform-impact-assessment.pdf. A separate impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument because no, or no significant, additional impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.
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