Public Health Funerals

Under Section 46 of the 1984 Public Health Act, if somebody dies, and it appears that no suitable arrangements have been made, we have a responsibility to make sure they receive a proper burial.

This usually happens when someone dies with no known blood relatives or has relatives that do not want to or who are unable to be involved. Where possible, the costs of this are recovered from the estate of the deceased.

Frequently asked questions

Public health funerals are the subject of frequent freedom of information requests, and the answers to the most commonly asked questions are as follows:

• we do not have a contract with a designated funeral director
• placing notices in newspapers would be arranged by the funeral director
• none of these funerals have required a formal notification to the Duchy of Lancaster
• none of these funerals have resulted in notification to the Land Registry, as none of the estates have included land or property
• due to the infrequent nature of these funerals no individual officer is designated for dealing with these matters

Public health funerals we have carried out

Since January 2026, we have carried out the following Public Health Funerals:

Name: Gary Lyon Browning 
Date and place of birth: 28.1.1967 Preston,
Date and place of death: 26.02.26 Preston
Relatives Traced? Yes
Value of estate: approx. £150k

Name: Gary Graham 
Date and place of birth: 28.04.1967 Aldershot,
Date and place of death: 09.05.2026 Leyland
Relatives Traced? Yes
Value of estate: £0
Cost of funeral: £1716

Name: Michael McMullen 
Date and place of birth: 21.07.1976,
Date and place of death: 18.06.2026, Leyland
Relatives traced? Yes
Value of estate: £0

Name: Michael Davis 
Date and place of birth: 01.11.1950
Date and place of death: 25.07.2026, Leyland
Relatives traced? Yes
Value of estate: £0