Your information and our service
Privacy, terms and cookies
Last updated: 19 October 2026
Privacy policy
This notice explains how Direct Burial uses personal information when you visit this website, make an enquiry, ask us to record funeral wishes or arrange a service.
Who is responsible for your information?
Direct Burial is the controller of the personal information described in this notice. You can contact us at burials@directfuneral.co.uk, by calling 0800 206 2210, or by writing to Direct Burial, Great North Road, Bawtry, DN10 6AB.
ICO registration reference: ZB246519.
Information we may collect
- Your name, telephone number, email address and postal address or postcode.
- Information about the person for whom arrangements are being considered, including their name, location and relevant dates.
- Information needed to understand whether someone has died, is expected to die imminently, is in hospital, or is making plans in advance.
- Your relationship to the person concerned and your authority to give instructions.
- Service choices, payment and transaction records, correspondence and call notes.
- Technical information needed for website security and operation, such as IP address, browser type and server logs.
Please do not include detailed medical or other particularly sensitive information in the free-text box unless we have asked you for it and explained why it is needed.
How we receive information
We receive information directly from you through this website, by telephone, email or post. We may also receive relevant information from a family member, executor, hospital, hospice, care home, medical professional, registrar, local authority, burial-ground operator, transport provider or another person involved in the arrangements.
Why we use it and our lawful bases
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Responding to an enquiry and discussing arrangements | Taking steps at your request before a contract, and our legitimate interests in responding helpfully |
| Providing and administering an agreed service, registration or plot reservation | Performance of a contract or taking steps at your request before a contract |
| Meeting registration, accounting, tax and other legal duties | Legal obligation |
| Protecting people, preventing fraud and establishing or defending legal claims | Legitimate interests, legal obligation or vital interests where applicable |
| Sending optional marketing | Consent, where required; you can withdraw it at any time |
Sensitive information
Some information about a living person's health, beliefs or circumstances may be special-category data. Where this applies, we will use it only when it is necessary, identify both an Article 6 lawful basis and an applicable Article 9 condition, and apply additional safeguards. Depending on the circumstances, that condition may include explicit consent, vital interests, legal claims or another condition permitted by data-protection law.
Who we may share information with
We share only what is reasonably necessary with people who help provide or administer the service. This may include hospitals, hospices, care homes, medical professionals, registrars and public authorities; burial-ground operators and grave-digging, transport, coffin or shroud providers; payment, banking, accounting, insurance, legal and professional advisers; and trusted website, transactional-email, telephone, document-storage and IT-security providers.
We may also disclose information where the law requires it, to protect someone's vital interests, in connection with a legal claim, or as part of a properly managed sale, merger or reorganisation of the business. Any business transfer will be assessed and documented in accordance with data-protection law. We do not sell personal information for marketing.
International transfers
Some technology providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where personal information is transferred internationally, we require an appropriate UK adequacy regulation or another lawful safeguard, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or approved contractual clauses, together with any necessary risk assessment.
How long we keep information
Enquiries that do not progress are normally retained for up to 12 months after the last contact. Contract, service and payment records are normally retained for seven years after the service or relationship ends. Active registration and plot-reservation records are kept while the arrangement remains current and normally for seven years after it ends. We may keep information for longer where law, safeguarding, insurance or a legal claim requires it, and delete or anonymise it when it is no longer needed.
How we protect information
We use proportionate organisational and technical safeguards, restrict access to people who need the information, and require service providers to protect it. No internet transmission is completely risk-free, so please call us if you would prefer not to send information online.
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to access, correct, erase or restrict your personal information; object to processing; receive portable information; and withdraw consent. You also have the right to object to direct marketing at any time. Some rights are limited where we must retain information by law or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
To exercise a right, contact burials@directfuneral.co.uk. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
Questions and complaints
Please contact us first so we can try to resolve any concern. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office through ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by calling 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this notice
We may update this notice when our services, providers or legal obligations change. The date above shows when it was last revised.
Service terms
The £1,985 National Direct Burial Service applies strictly to burial at our natural green burial park in Laughton, Lincolnshire. It includes collection from any hospital in England or Wales, bringing the person into our care, specialist transportation, professional care and preparation, a cotton burial shroud, transportation to our park, an exclusive burial plot, grave digging and interment.
Burial at another cemetery, churchyard or burial ground is a separate service and is priced separately.
Every exclusive plot at our Lincolnshire park is guaranteed forever, will never be reused and has no future or ongoing plot fees. When two or more people pay their plot fees together, adjoining hand-in-hand plots will be allocated so they can rest side by side.
Free registration records the customer's Direct Burial wishes and fixes the service price, but it does not select, allocate or reserve a particular plot.
To reserve a particular plot location, 50% of the £1,985 price is paid as the plot fee. Once that payment has been received in full, it is fully secured through the legal Exclusive Right of Burial (EROB), the selected plot is reserved and the agreement guarantees a 100% fixed rate. The remaining balance is payable at the time of need. This arrangement is not a pre-paid funeral plan. Registration is free, and Direct Burial does not hold customer money as a funeral-plan provider.
An EROB may be transferred or resold provided the new holder signs and accepts the burial-ground terms and conditions. An EROB grants the burial right described in the agreement; it does not transfer ownership of the land.
Following official registration of the death and receipt of the necessary legal documentation, burial normally takes place within 7–10 days unless otherwise agreed.
Additional charges apply in the circumstances explained on the main website. Full contractual terms will be provided before an arrangement is confirmed.