Burial and Cremation Act 1964, s 46AA-46B
If a person has died after an illness or some other natural cause, usually the doctor or nurse who has been caring for them will issue a “Certificate of Cause of Death”. The body can’t be buried or cremated without this certificate. (This isn’t a “Death Certificate” – that’s the certificate issued by Births, Deaths and Marriages after you’ve officially registered the death with them.)
If the deceased had been ill, the doctor or nurse can’t issue the cause of death certificate unless they’re satisfied the death was a natural consequence of the illness.
Usually doctors and nurses can’t issue a cause of death certificate for an accidental death, and instead have to report it to the coroner. But there’s an exception when a person over 70 dies after an accident; in these cases, the doctor or nurse can issue a certificate so long as the accident resulted from physical problems linked to the person’s age, and the death wasn’t suspicious or unusual and wasn’t caused by someone else.
Once the doctor or nurse has issued their certificate, the deceased’s body can be released to the family, so that they can prepare for the funeral. The family can move the body home if they want to, or to a funeral home.