There are legal requirements relating to removal of a body from the place of death.
This is relevant for deaths in a residential facility or hospital where the operator or manager is assumed to have "charge" of the dead body.

In practical terms, the person collecting the body must:
A. Have a death certificate or Coroner's certificate
B. Provide the following confirmation to the operator or manager of the facility:
- that the collector is responsible for registering the death
- that the collector will assume responsibility for burial or cremation of the body
- identifying where the collector intends to dispose of the body.

This confirmation is not absolutely required when the body is being transferred to a funeral director or to the police.

Burial & Cremation Act 1964 section 46F: Transfer of charge of body
(1) A person having charge of a body must not transfer charge of it to another person unless he or she first—
(a) gives the other person a certificate of cause of death or coroner’s authorisation; and
(b) gets from the other person a notice, in the standard form, taking responsibility for notifying a Registrar under section 42 of the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995 of the death of the person whose body it is, and (except where the body is being removed by the other person for anatomical examination under the Human Tissue Act 2008)—
  1. taking responsibility for disposing of the body; and
  2. describing (with enough detail to enable it to be identified) the place where the other person intends to dispose of the body.

(2) However, in any of the following circumstances the person transferring the body does not have to comply with subsection (1):
(a) a person having charge of a body who is not a funeral director transferring charge of it to a funeral director:
(b) a person having charge of a body transferring charge of it to—
  1. a constable; or
  2. a doctor who has been directed by a coroner to perform a post-mortem of the body; or
  3. the occupier of a hospital.

(3) Nevertheless, if a person has a certificate of cause of death or coroner’s authorisation at the time that he or she transfers charge of a body to another person, he or she must give the certificate or authorisation to the other person.