The Cost of Cremations in New Zealand

Local council and privately-operated crematoriums

Cremations take place in crematoriums run by local councils and by some private operators. The Consumer NZ (September 2023) Report states that council-owned crematorium costs are between $600 and $1100.

It is important to know that costs vary depending on where the cremation takes place. In Auckland, an adult cremation at a council crematorium costs $785; whereas in a small regional town, an adult cremation at a privately owned crematorium may be significantly more. In some less-populated areas of New Zealand, there is only one crematorium available.

Direct Cremation vs Cremation Packages

Crematoriums provide a basic layer of services, which may include storage of the body, casket and urn options and the return of ashes to a designated person. To ease the financial burden, mourners may be able to choose a direct cremation, which involves no or minimal help from a funeral director. Here, the loved one is transferred directly to the crematorium, there is no service or witnesses, and the ashes are returned to the relatives.

Cremation packages booked via a funeral director can also include transfer of the deceased, document preparation, plus a range of optional extra services including embalming, casket, celebrant, chapel hire (if chosen), scatter fees, plaque placement, and type of urn. These options may be wrapped up as all-inclusive packages, available at different prices.

Read about cremation options in New Zealand…

The role of the medical referee

Medical referees are responsible for permitting cremations. Their primary role is to review cause of death documentation and cremation forms produced by certifying medical and nurse practitioners and decide whether to approve or decline applications for cremation.

Medical referees act as an additional check to ensure that the cause of death has been definitely ascertained before the body is cremated. If you’re not using a funeral director, the crematorium staff will contact their local medical referee on your behalf.  Due to privacy issues, most regions don’t publicly list contact details for their medical referees.

In some circumstances, a cremation certificate is issued without examining the deceased in situations where a person has died in a residential care facility, rest home or other long-term in-patient facility and where the death is not unexpected.

Understanding crematorium costs

When dealing directly with crematoriums (rather than using a funeral director), you may need to factor in additional fees such as weekend surcharges, late arrival surcharges, medical referee fee, cremation certificate, ashes separation fee and extra ash containers. Depending on the crematorium, there may also be paid options to view the cremation and bury or scatter ashes.

Some privately-owned crematoriums do not have an option to work directly with the crematorium and you will need to work with the associated funeral director or funeral services provider.

Making decisions about cremation services is something we are likely to do very infrequently. Researching now and asking the right questions about your local crematorium may save both stress and cost, giving you peace of mind that things will be well taken care of.