SAIF Golden Charter

Journey begins

In March 2016 the Scottish Government brought legislation that will change the funeral profession in Scotland – The Burial and Cremation Act (Scotland) 2016.

In 2015, Scottish Ministers appointed an Inspector of Crematoria. While existing cremation legislation enabled Scottish Ministers to appoint this Inspector, there were no similar powers to appoint Inspectors of Burial or Funeral Directors. From 28 December 2016, Scottish Ministers will have these powers, although there are no immediate plans to appoint an Inspector of Burial.

At the time of writing, the recruitment of an Inspector of Funeral Directors has taken place. This role will have powers to set standards, regulate and penalise, to the extent of closing funeral businesses for breaching standards.

The appointment has two phases: the first 18 months will be reviewing the practices of funeral directors and the second phase, a further 18 months, will develop the licencing, compliance and standards scheme for funeral businesses – the regulatory environment, from how one applies for a licence to monitoring and professional competencies.

Part 6 of the legislation also gives Scottish Ministers powers to limit the costs for funeral services.

These are far-reaching changes for funeral professionals including those in the rest of the UK; this regulatory framework is likely to be captured and enacted within a handful of years across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

SAIF is a collective voice for independent funeral directors. Consequently, we have been at the forefront with initial discussions led by the officers of SAIF Scotland and National SAIF, attending preparatory meetings with civil servants charged with these changes. This is the beginning of the journey.

SAIF reflects your values to be part of a society that has very high standards of self-regulation. The SAIF Quality Assurance Programme has eight Assessors who now inspect premises for compliance every two years. These inspections are to benchmark professional services to the public, and this positions us in readiness for compliance, dispute resolution and professional standards.

What is clear to us is that there is no time for hesitation; we need to work strategically with our colleagues in the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) so that together we stand strong in assuring the Scottish Government and subsequent parliamentary executives in the UK that we can formulate a joint code of practice, a common quality assurance programme with aligned competences and redress processes for members that fall short of these standards.

In this vein, I know SAIF’s Presidents have forged a constructive and collaborative working relationship with the NAFD’s Officers, and with NAFD CEO Mandie Lavin and I both new in post, we have forged a highly valuable and effective working relationship, from matters of challenging local authorities offering funeral services, to Medical Examiners/death certification reforms across England and Wales.

These relationships of trust will be vital as together we lead to ensure the regulatory environment where our clients, the deceased and bereaved, continue to receive the highest standard of service without expensive regulatory instruments that will only add to funeral costs unnecessarily.

With this in mind, the NAFD and SAIF are hosting a joint meeting, free to our members and available to non-affiliated trade association funeral directors (at cost), on Saturday 1 April 2017 in Stirling, Scotland.

We invite you to this meeting no matter where you reside in the UK, as this legislation begins with Scottish members but will affect those who do business in Scotland who are from outside of it!

We will confirm details of the venue, timings and how to reserve your place at this joint event on the website, monthly emails, and future SAIFInsight issues.

Other dates for members to diarise, for briefings:

• SAIF Scotland’s AGM
Thursday 23 February 2017, 6.30 for 7.00pm, Perth
• National SAIF’s AGM
Saturday 25 March 2017, 9.00 for 9.30am at The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the team in the SAIF Business Centre and I want to assure you that the SAIF Executive Committees in Scotland and National SAIF are attending to this issue, bringing their full focus and professional expertise.