On 2nd March 2021 the FCA issued their consultation into the sale and administration of prepaid funeral plans and the financial robustness of funeral plan providers and their funeral plan trusts. The consultation is open until 13th April 2021 and includes the proposed draft rules and regulations. The new regulations would be expected to come into force in July 2022. Providers can register with the FCA from September 2021 but …
A public health policy chief has argued that we should create ‘green burial corridors’ alongside major roads, railways and country footpaths to ease overcrowding in British cemeteries. Many current graveyards are close to capacity in England and Wales and, at the current rate, it is estimated that there will be no burial plots left within the next five years. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, leading …
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Death and funerals are hard to think about. But with funeral costs averaging £4,300, the financial cost can be significant for grieving family members. To make sure family members aren’t left footing a heavy bill, more and more people are using funeral plans to cover end of life costs. But it’s a big decision to make. And the Treasury recently warned that some plan providers were targeting vulnerable individuals with …
Introduced in the UK in 2017, the EU-mandated Trust Registration Service caused something of a headache for people managing trusts. Now, an extension in the mandate of the register means that pre-paid funeral trusts and other financial products could come under the scope of the Trust Register (TR). The Trust Registration Service To combat illegal flows of money, the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive required countries to set up a …
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Demand for pre-paid funeral plans has skyrocketed by almost 250% in just over a decade. Funeral directors can benefit from this trend and help customers avoid large third-party plan providers by setting up their own, independently-managed funeral trusts. Data from the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA) reveals that annual sales of pre-paid funeral plans increased by 245% between 2006 and 2017. The figures were highlighted as the Treasury launched a consultation …
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Families in some parts of the UK are paying hundreds of pounds more to cremate loved ones than others. Cremation costs at council-run facilities vary widely by local authority, with the cheapest cremation costing £364 in Belfast and the most expensive priced at £960 in Milton Keynes. Cremation fees cost, on average, £792 in 2019 – an increase of 4.9% from 2017. Costs had risen in two-thirds of areas since …
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Bereaved parents will get financial help towards the cost of their child’s burial or cremation as a result of a new government scheme. The Children’s Funeral Fund (CFF) will reduce the financial burden on grieving families by reimbursing burial and cremation authorities and funeral directors directly. Previously, the scheme looked set to only reimburse local authorities, who would waive burial or cremation fees and reclaim money from the government fund. …
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Pre-paid funeral plan providers face tougher regulation after the government announced proposals to tackle bad practice in the sector. Providers that use high-pressure or bullying tactics to sell pre-paid funeral plans could face fines and criminal charges. To offer more protection to customers, the Treasury announced that the providers would now be regulated through the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Evidence shows that some providers have used misleading sales tactics, costing …
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Setting up a funeral plan trust allows funeral directors to offer their own funeral plans directly to customers. They can build a book of guaranteed future funerals, keep fees that would normally be paid to third parties and benefit from investment growth realised by the trust. In this blog post we set out what a funeral plan trust is, how it works and how you can set one up for …
Burial and cremation fees are up almost 20% in the last three years. Funeral directors can offer customers more for less by setting up an independent pre-paid funeral trust. New research reveals that the price of a burial plot has increased by almost 20% in the last three years while cremation fees are up almost 18%. By setting up an independently-managed pre-payment funeral trust, funeral directors can beat inflation-busting price …
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