The UK government has apologised to families whose stillborn babies were buried or cremated without their parents’ involvement, practices that continued in parts of the country until the mid-1980s. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was sorry for the distress caused and for the additional pain suffered by relatives who could not discover where their babies had been laid to rest.
The apology followed years of campaigning by bereaved families, including Gina Jacobs, whose son Robert was stillborn in 1969. Jacobs found his burial place in 2022, 53 years later, and has since helped more than 60 families locate the graves of stillborn children. She had previously said that parents were often denied the chance to see their babies or take part in funeral decisions.
Wirral Council’s records show that 1,287 stillborn babies were placed in unmarked communal graves at four cemeteries between 1935 and 1981. Another communal burial ground at Royton Cemetery in Oldham is believed to contain more than 270 babies.
A 2025 council review said that, from the 1950s through the 1970s, medical professionals and wider society often believed mothers would recover more quickly if they did not attend funerals or participate in decisions after a stillbirth. Hospitals commonly arranged communal burials, sometimes without telling parents where the grave was located. The review said burial records were kept, although some families were not informed that a burial had taken place or where it occurred.
Jacobs and other families welcomed the government’s recognition but said the apology alone would not deliver full justice. Campaigners have called for national funding to retrieve and digitise burial records, as well as a comprehensive review of historic communal burials.
The government’s written statement requires NHS trusts within four weeks to provide a named contact through patient advice services for families seeking answers. Trusts are also being given guidance on where historic records may be held, which organisations families can approach and what support is available. The guidance acknowledges that records may be incomplete or missing.
Local councils in Liverpool, Oldham and Wirral are already helping families search records and consider memorials. Wirral has held remembrance services, installed memorials and assists families with searches of its burial and grave registers. Since 2019, the government has funded burial or cremation costs for stillborn babies and children under 18 in England, while current rules require parents’ wishes to be recorded for cremations.