In section 4 of the Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 2018 (funerals: conduct), after subsection (1) insert—

“(1A)

A duly authorised deaconess, reader or lay worker (a “lay office-holder”) may, with the consent of the incumbent or priest-in-charge of the benefice or parish to which the lay office-holder is licensed, perform a funeral service in a crematorium, cemetery or other place which is not a church or churchyard, and in which the lay office-holder would not otherwise be entitled to perform the service, if—

(a)

the persons concerned have asked the lay office-holder to perform the service, and

(b)

the lay office-holder has, so far as practicable, informed the relevant minister and sought his or her goodwill.

(1B)

The reference in subsection (1A) to the incumbent or priest-in-charge of the benefice or parish is, where there is no such person, to be read as a reference to the rural dean of the deanery in which the benefice or parish is situated.”