State funeral? Participation in it is no longer required (8,7)
I believe the answer is:
national service
'participation in it is no longer required' is the definition.
(national service is no longer compulsory in the UK)
'state funeral?' is the wordplay.
'state' becomes 'national' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'funeral?' becomes 'service' (funeral service is a type of service).
'national'+'service'='NATIONAL SERVICE'
(Other definitions for national service that I've seen before include "What conscripts had to do" , "In a period with the military" , "Compulsory period in the forces" , "Period of peacetime conscription" , "Period of compulsory conscription" .)