Arranging a burial (interment)
To arrange a full body or cremated remains burial, you should approach a funeral director of your choice. They will arrange the handling of the deceased's body and help to organise the funeral and burial. They will guide you through the process and complete the required paperwork.
We have six cemeteries in Liverpool which open for burials Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm. Weekend options are available between 9am and 11am at an additional charge.
Burial options
Full body burial
Full body burials can take place in a new grave, which you can purchase at the time of burial or in reserve, or in an existing grave, subject to space.
Cremated remains burial
Cremated remains can be buried in a new cremated remains plot, which can be purchased at the time of burial, or in an existing grave or cremated remains plot, subject to space. Find out more about grave options and how to purchase.
Applicant for Burial
New graves
For new graves and cremated remains plots, the person who signs the interment form is known as the Applicant for Burial. If you are the Applicant for Burial you will hold the Exclusive Right of Burial for the grave. This means that you will be the person who can authorise a headstone or memorial, or any future interments.
Existing graves
Where a burial is taking place in an existing grave or plot, if there is a living owner of Exclusive Right of Burial for the grave, then this person must authorise the burial to take place. If there is no living owner, a transfer can take place via the interment, subject to conditions.
What happens at the cemetery?
Once your funeral director has organised the interment and submitted the paperwork to us, we will prepare the grave for burial.
On the day, a member of staff will meet the funeral procession and escort the cortège to the grave for full body interments.
For cremated remains burials, a representative of your family should meet a member of staff at the specified meeting point with the ashes. You will then be accompanied to the grave or plot. You can find details of meeting points on our cemetery venue pages.
You should also check the agreed meeting point with your funeral director in case other arrangements have been made.
What happens after the burial?
When the burial has taken place, our professional grounds team will backfill the grave. When you visit the grave over the first few weeks or months, you may notice that the grave has 'sunk'. This is completely natural and happens as the ground settles following a burial.
Our staff will periodically inspect the grave over the next 6 months and add more soil where required. The grave will also be seeded where needed. We carry out these scheduled inspections based on our experience of how ground settles and you should only contact us about a 'sunken' grave within the first 6 months if there is a safety issue.
After this, if you feel there are further grounds maintenance issues after this period, contact us on 0151 233 3004 or report a maintenance issue online.
Costs
See burial and interment costs for more information.