New guidelines for Leeds funerals released as mourners limited to 10 and no new chapel funerals

The council announced from Thursday, March 26, the number of mourners who will be allowed at an already arranged chapel funeral service, and at burials and graveside services will be restricted as follows:

- Up to 10 mourners can now only be present per chapel.

- Up to 20 mourners at burial and graveside services.

Leeds council said mourners must respect the two metre social distance rule at the graveside if wishing to backfill the grave - and must bring their own spades.

Both mourners and funeral directors must remain two metres away from council grave digging staff.

In the new statement, the council said: "If mourners do not respect the social distancing rules when asked, the council may need to consider withdrawing mourner participation at the graveside and council staff will backfill the grave only when mourners are a safe distance away.

Following guidance issued last week, the council will no longer be taking any new bookings for chapel funeral services.

Any further bookings will be undertaken as ‘Direct Cremation Services’ only.

A ‘Direct Cremation’ is a funeral which is not attended by mourners and has no service.

Burials can be booked and continue to go ahead as normal with the restrictions outlined above in terms of number of mourners and backfilling of grave.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s executive member for environment and active lifestyles, said:“We are continuing to monitor all of the guidance regarding Coronavirus very closely, and in what is very unprecedented times, we are having to make extremely difficult decisions in terms of the services we provide to ensure that the health and well-being of the public, council staff and partners and stakeholders we work closely with, is protected.

“With that in mind we will be introducing a number of further changes to the cemeteries and crematoria services provided by the council from March 26 in terms of numbers that can attend a pre-booked chapel funeral service or burial or graveside service, and information around backfilling of graves.

“We have updated funeral directors regarding these latest alterations, and will continue to keep the public fully informed of any further service changes.”