Pricing
ArticlesResourcesGlossaryFAQs
07 4646 4096Contact Us
Email07 4646 40960493 206 555

← Glossary of Funeral Terms

Government Contracted Undertaker

Government Contracted Undertaker

A Government Contracted Undertaker (GCU) is a private funeral service provider that has been contracted by the Queensland Government to provide specific services for the coronial system. Despite the name, a GCU is generally not a government employee or government-owned funeral home.

In Queensland, Government Contracted Undertakers are engaged by the Department of Justice under a contractual arrangement known as a Standing Offer Arrangement (SOA). Their role includes providing conveyancing services for reportable deaths and, separately, providing approved burial and cremation services under the Funeral Assistance Scheme.

The person collecting from a reportable death. When a death is reported to the coroner, the GCU responsible for the relevant area is contacted to collect the person who has died. This may include collections from private homes, hospitals, accident scenes or other locations. The GCU provides this service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including public holidays.

They are not necessarily taking the person to a government morgue. Depending on the circumstances, the GCU may transport the person directly to an authorised Queensland Health mortuary facility for examination. In other circumstances, the person may be taken to the GCU’s own premises, where they can remain in an appropriate private facility while the coroner considers the circumstances of the death.

For example, if someone dies unexpectedly at home and the death is reportable, the GCU may collect the person and take them to its own premises. After considering the person’s medical history and other available information, the coroner may determine that an autopsy or further examination is not required. The person can then be released directly from the GCU’s premises without ever being taken to a Queensland Health mortuary.

The GCU is acting for the coronial system. When a GCU collects a person as part of a reportable death, they are providing a service under their government contract. They are not the family’s chosen funeral service provider simply because they have collected the person.

The family can choose their own funeral service provider. A family is not required to use the GCU for the funeral simply because the GCU collected the person or because the person is temporarily being cared for at the GCU’s premises. Once the person is released for funeral arrangements, the family can nominate another funeral service provider, including themselves where appropriate.

There is no funeral fee simply for releasing the person. The GCU is paid by the Queensland Government for the coronial conveyancing and storage services it provides under its contract. A family does not become responsible for paying the GCU’s government-contracted fees simply because their person has been collected and temporarily cared for by that provider.

The GCU must release the person to the funeral service provider or other person nominated by the family once the person is authorised for release. The GCU does not have the right to insist that the family use its funeral services.

The GCU may have an opinion, but that does not make them the funeral provider. Because GCUs regularly undertake coronial transfers, they may have practical views about how a person should be transported or what vehicle should be used when the person is released. Those views do not give the GCU the right to choose the family’s funeral service provider or prevent the family from making their own arrangements.

A local responsibility. Queensland has 77 local government areas, with a dedicated GCU arrangement for each area. The GCU responsible for a particular death is therefore generally determined by where the reportable death occurs.

Not the same as a coroner. A Coroner is a judicial officer who investigates certain deaths. A GCU is a private funeral service provider contracted to perform particular services for the Queensland Government. The GCU carries out the practical conveyancing and, where required, storage of the person while the coronial process takes place; the coroner makes the decisions about the investigation.