There are more than 90 regulatory bodies in the UK, and these cost the taxpayer around £4bn a year to run. The purpose of regulation, according to the National Audit Office, is to “protect and benefit people, businesses and the environment and to support economic growth”. This noble cause ensures that very many trades and professions, from street sweeping to dentistry, from vehicle immobilising to insolvency practitioning, come under the aegis of an independent regulator.
You will be surprised, however, that there is one aspect of business life, one that we will all one day have reason to encounter, which remains totally unregulated, and this directly relates to one of the most distressing and heart-rending domestic news stories of recent times.A funeral director in Hull was last week raided by police after calls from the public in relation to “the storage and management and processes of the deceased people”.
How can this be? Those who decide not to join one of the two industry bodies representing funeral directors will not even be subject to regular checks and inspections. There is no more emotive, upsetting and highly-charged sphere of business than the care of dead bodies, and yet it’s left to chance whether a funeral director fulfils recognised levels of service.
The MP for Hull West and Hessle, Emma Hardy, spoke for many of her constituents in saying: “I am now calling for the process of bringing all funeral directors under a regulatory system to begin without delay.”