AS controversy rages over its ban on mourners at York Crematorium, City of York Council has published a series of questions and answers explaining the thinking behind the decision - and the implications for the bereaved.

Q. What happens if we have a service planned at the Crematorium?

A. The cremations will continue as planned but unfortunately, this means that services in their current form will not be able to go ahead. The celebrant/minister can still attend and we will still provide a short video within the chapel free of charge for those services that have been booked.

Q.What about future service bookings?

A. At the moment, any new bookings will be undertaken as ‘Direct Cremation’ only. However, the option for a 10 minute service by a celebrant/minister can be added.

Q.Are there any exceptions to this new rule?

A. Sadly not - these are unprecedented times. We want to ensure that the bereaved families have the opportunity to celebrate their loved ones life’s and we are working to seek support from other faith agencies across the city to do this once the coronavirus outbreak is over.

Q.Will we be able to collect our loved ones ashes?

A. Yes, the ashes will continue to be available for collection and where the families wish to scatter these in the grounds we can arrange for this to happen once it is safe to do so.

Q.Why are we making the changes at such short notice?

A.We appreciate this is very short notice, but we must take clear public health advice to ensure everyone is protected and that we limit the risk to the public, our staff and partners, including funeral directors.

The council had already introduced social distancing measures at the crematorium before the national guidance was published and our measures were in line with these guidelines.

However, the health and safety of staff, funeral directors and mourners is paramount and it was clear that we needed to do more to protect the resilience of this part of the City’s pandemic response ahead of the peak of deaths which we are anticipating will start to happen within the next 4 weeks, based on national modelling.

We are following Public Health England advice for when there is sustained transmission of coronavirus in the community and people may be infected without showing symptoms.

There are also circumstances in which Covid-19 may not be given as the first cause of death but the infection come to light during the medical review process before burial takes place. As there can be up to 14 services a day at the crematorium, it is vital that the number of people visiting is kept to a minimum to minimise the chances of spreading coronavirus.

There can be up to 14 services a day, with up to 10 or 5 people at each service, meaning that in one day, over 150 people could potentially visit the crematorium. It is vital that the number of people visiting the crematoria is kept to a minimum, in order to minimise the chances of spreading coronavirus.

We also have a very small skilled team providing a critical service, if they became infected we would have a further public health risk in not being able to undertake cremations at all.

These changes are in line with a number of other local authorities who have taken the same action, in some cases earlier, during this unprecedented situation.