Drafting The Funeral Celebrant Accord
The Funeral Celebrancy Council was convened in 2018 to provide a much-needed central organisation for funeral celebrants.
Representatives from organisations across the funeral sector joined together for the first time to work on a new set of standards for funeral celebrants.
The goal of this joint approach was to define best practice, represent funeral celebrants across the UK and set standards that all funeral celebrants should meet to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience a meaningful funeral ceremony.
The Funeral Celebrancy Council recognised that the quality of ceremonies varies significantly, and in order to address this, it drew up The Funeral Celebrant Accord and the accompanying Working with Funeral Celebrants: Points for Excellence.
These important documents were designed to raise standards across the sector through an understanding of what makes an excellent funeral celebrant. They are resources of equal use and interest to both the public and those working in the funeral sector, whether celebrants or funeral directors and arrangers.
In addition, the Council conducted ground breaking research into the experience of funeral celebrants.
Who drafted the Funeral Celebrant Accord?
The Accord was conceived and created by a council of established professional associations and training providers within the funeral celebrancy sector, working together for the first time.
All organisations on the council had equal say in the final content.
Why we need The Accord and the Checklists
The quality and calibre of the celebrant makes a great difference to any funeral ceremony.
A funeral is a critical part of the grieving process and is often the only opportunity for people to publicly express and share their feelings and memories of the person who has died.
Good funerals, which are meaningful to bereaved people, play a huge part in the grieving process. Ensuring that funeral ceremonies are created to the highest standard is a responsibility that celebrants and funeral directors share, and the Accord and Checklists have an important part to play in this.
Funeral celebrancy is a relatively new development in the 21st century, offering a person centred alternative to traditional funeral ceremonies. There may or may not be religious content in the ceremony, this is entirely the choice of the bereaved client.
Unfortunately, the varying standards of practice and training reflect poorly on this currently unregulated profession. Without a common standard, the quality of ceremonies is inconsistent, and bereaved people cannot be sure that they are being provided with a celebrant who is the best person to write and deliver a funeral ceremony for them.
The Funeral Celebrancy Council developed a definition of an excellent celebrant which you can see here.
We feel that bereaved people should expect no less. We encourage funeral directors to only recommend celebrants who aspire to meet the criteria set out in The Funeral Celebrant Accord, and we have offered them Working with Funeral Celebrants: Points for Excellence as a simple checklist resource.
