Urgent burials - guidance for medical and/or bereavement staff
Emailing the MCCD:
GPs, surgeries or doctors should not email the MCCD to the register office, this must be carried out by the Medical Examiner or somebody appointed by them to carry out this task.
Please make sure that the words ‘URGENT FAITH DEATH’ are included in the subject line when emailing the MCCD to the Register Office, otherwise it may not be picked up quickly. A ‘faith death’ is where the burial needs to take place within 24 hours of death for religious reasons.
Please check the MCCD is correct, with no errors or omissions that may render the certificate unusable.
The MCCD must not be given to the family or posted to the Register Office. It should be emailed to the Register Office and then disposed of in accordance with your local policy on document retention.
Advice for families:
Please help us to manage the expectations of families in terms of what may be possible. For instance, a MCCD emailed to the Register Office at 3pm during the week may not be picked up until the following day, and so the family may not receive a call the same day. Likewise, a MCCD issued in the afternoon on a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday may not be picked up until the next working day.
Families should not be advised to come to the Register Office to collect the burial authority in person. They should email registeroffice@manchester.gov.uk