Caledonia Cremation was set up in 2018 by the charity Community Renewal Trust to provide affordable funerals and campaign against funeral poverty in Scotland. The social enterprise was co-founded by Paul McColgan and John Halliday. The inspiration to launch Caledonia Cremation came when Paul experienced a sudden death of a young family member where there was no provision for such an unexpected event.

As the leader of an anti-poverty charity, he started investigating further, discovering that funeral costs had been increasing fast, and this was hitting Scottish families hard, pushing one in seven into debt. As a result, Caledonia Cremation was formed, providing affordable and dignified direct cremation to bereaved people living in Scotland.

Many undertakers across Scotland are now offering direct cremation, but we were one of the first to increase people’s funeral choices by providing direct cremation to those living in Scotland. This has led to us becoming the most trusted, award-winning provider of direct cremations.

We are different from other funeral homes in that we are charity-owned so we don’t insist on a deposit, we don’t upsell you items you don’t need, and we don’t profit from your loss. However, we will take care of you throughout the whole process, including after the funeral.

The service is in the Good Funeral Guide and has won Scottish and UK awards as a flagship social enterprise.

Every funeral arranged by Caledonia Cremation also helps those facing funeral poverty.