It shall be the duty of every [F1 district council] ….F2 to cause to be buried or cremated the body of any person who has died or been found dead in its [F1 district], where it appears to the [F1 district council] that suitable arrangements for the disposal of the body have not been, or are not being, made otherwise than by the [F1 district council].

A [F1 district council] …. …F3 may recover from the estate of the deceased person, or from any person who, for the purposes of [F1 the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 [1972 NI] ], was liable to maintain the deceased person immediately before his death, expenses incurred under subsection (1)…F4F5. . . .

Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall affect any enactment regulating or authorising the burial, cremation or anatomical examination of the body of a deceased person; and a body shall not be cremated under this section where the [F1 district council] has reason to believe that cremation would be contrary to the wishes of the deceased.

This Act may be cited as the Welfare Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1971.