{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-services-act-northern-ireland-1971/section-25",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-services-act-northern-ireland-1971/section-25.json",
  "legislation": "apni/1971/2",
  "legislation_title": "Welfare Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1971",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-services-act-northern-ireland-1971",
  "path": "section/25",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "25",
  "heading": "Burial or cremation of the dead.",
  "text": "(1) It shall be the duty of every [ district council] …. to cause to be buried or cremated the body of any person who has died or been found dead in its [ district], where it appears to the [ district council] that suitable arrangements for the disposal of the body have not been, or are not being, made otherwise than by the [ district council].\nSubs.(2) rep. by SRO (NI) 1973/211; subs.(3) rep. by 1972 NI 14\n(4) A [ district council] …. … may recover from the estate of the deceased person, or from any person who, for the purposes of [ the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 1972 NI], was liable to maintain the deceased person immediately before his death, expenses incurred under subsection (1)…. . . .\n(5) Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall affect any enactment regulating or authorising the burial, cremation or anatomical examination of the body of a deceased person; and a body shall not be cremated under this section where the [ district council] has reason to believe that cremation would be contrary to the wishes of the deceased.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "SRO (NI) 1973/211"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "SRO (NI) 1973/211"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "1972 NI 14; SRO (NI) 1973/211"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "1972 NI 14"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "1986 NI 18"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "S. 25(5) excluded (temp.) (25.3.2020) by Coronavirus Act 2020 (c. 7), s. 87(1), Sch. 28 para. 13(4)(b) (with ss. 88-90)"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C2",
      "text": "S. 25(5) expiry of earlier affecting provision 2020 c. 7, Sch. 28 para. 13 (25.3.2022) by Coronavirus Act 2020 (c. 7), s. 89 (with s. 90)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1971/2/section/25",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T21:29:30.281543+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}