DMAG advice

Deceased Management Advisory Group (DMAG) website launches

The Deceased Management Advisory Group (DMAG), a group of seven organisations representing the funeral, burial and cremation sector, is regularly liaising with Government on the sector’s response to COVID-19.

DMAG comprises the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF), Association of Private Crematoria and Cemeteries (APCC), Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities (FBCA), Funeral Furnishing Manufacturers’ Association (FFMA), Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM), The Cremation Society and the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD).

To keep stakeholders up to date with developments, DMAG has launched a website to provide a central hub for all those involved with funerals, burials and cremations, and has been supported by SAIF. Advice given by the representative organisations, Central Government and the devolved administrations is contained on the site.

For more information, visit www.dmag2020.org

Advice on limiting attendance at funerals

The members of DMAG are aware of the important and central role of the funeral ritual to the grieving process for many families. However, during these extremely challenging times, the transmission of the coronavirus at funeral gatherings cannot be overlooked.

DMAG now recommends that funeral services consider limiting attendees to members of the immediate family who are not in any of the high-risk categories and are not self-isolating. The immediate family being:

  • Spouse/partner
  • Parents/carers
  • Brothers/sisters
  • Children (and partners)

Limiting attendees must be done sensitively and taking into account individual circumstances. For example, if the deceased person had few, if any, immediate relatives but a close friend wished to attend the service, that would be reasonable. In the case of the death of a grandparent, attendance by the grandchildren would be appropriate.

DMAG has urged the whole funeral and bereavement sector to work closely to deliver, as far as is possible in these difficult times, a meaningful opportunity for the bereaved to say goodbye, whilst endeavouring to protect all those involved.

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