FPA Regulated Firms Offering Funeral Plans

Funeral Planning Authority Regulated Firms of Funeral Plan Providers.

A Funeral Planning Authority Regulated firm is a business that provides funeral plans and is regulated by the Authority. The Funeral Planning Authority is committed to ensuring that people like you have access to reliable, regulated providers within the funeral plan industry. Our work ensures that the registered providers listed here uphold high standards and report to us on an annual basis on areas such as their investments, sales and marketing, and complaints. Why not Contact Us for guidance into which Plan Provider is best?

The List of FPA Regulated Firms is further down the page.

Their aim is that our work will result in customers getting the funeral that they have paid for, and deserve, when the time comes.

In order to become a Funeral Planning Authority registered provider, the FPA check that these businesses abide by a set criteria of rules and a Code of Practice, which exceed the statutory requirements set out within the industry. You can find out more about these regulations and read their Code of Practice below..

If you have a provider in mind and want to check their status, you can enter the name of a plan provider into their search bar to find out if they’re registered with the FPA. Alternatively, you can scroll further down for a list of approved providers.

This list was updated in October 2018 but does not include firms which have applied to be Regulated by the Funeral Planning Authority but not yet been fully on-boarded.

List of FPA Regulated Firms:

Co-operative Funeralcare

Dignity Pre Arrangement Ltd

Alternative Planning Company Limited

Planning Services

Ecclesiastical Planning Services Limited

Golden Leaves Limited

Golden Charter Limited

Avalon

Advance Planning Limited

Safe Hands

Pure Cremation

F A Albin & Sons Ltd

F A Albin & Sons Limited offers Prearranged Plans to it’s customers in London, Kent and the surrounding areas. The company is a family owned independent director and has been in business for over 200 years. Plans can be arranged to suit individual requirements and funds are held in a Trust which was formed in 1990. The Trust is managed by a number of trustees the majority of whom are independent.

East of England Coop

An independent Co-operative Society, and are proud to be owned by hundreds of thousands of Members from across Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Choosing a plan is flexible and straightforward with our comprehensive range of plans and tailor-made options. Whichever plan you chose you can spread the cost over a period of time that’s convenient for your budget. All funeral plan payments are deposited with Royal London Group.

Plan with Grace

Plan With Grace Limited, established by two of the UK’s leading family owned funeral directors to provide clients with a range of funeral plan products. With its founding partners combined history totaling over 500 years, the firm is built on the principals of responsibility, transparency and longevity. Funds are held securely by the Plan With Grace Funeral Payment Trust, an independent Trust, until such time as they are required to meet the funeral fees, the custodian trustee is Link Corporate Trustees (UK) Limited (formerly known as Capita Trust Company Limited).

Chelmsford Star Cooperative Society Limited

Chelmsford Star Cooperative Society Ltd offers the Chelmsford Star Cooperative Society Funeral Plan to its customers, with 7 branches covering Chelmsford, Braintree, Dunmow, Ingatestone.

BFD Prepaid Funeral Plan

Bristol Funeral Directors Limited offers the BFD Prepaid Plan to customers in Bristol and surrounding areas, through family owned independent funeral directors. Plans can be arranged to suit individual requirements and funds are held in a Trust, the Trustees of which are a major firm of Bristol solicitors.

Clydebank Co-operative Society Limited

Clydebank Co-operative is an independent regional retail Society offering the Co-operative Funeral Bond throughout the Clydebank and Greater Glasgow areas and is a member of the National Association of the Funeral Directors, the Funeral Planning Authority and the Co-operative Funeral Service Association. All services are provided on a 24 hour basis.

Lincolnshire Co-Op Funeral Services

Lincolnshire Co-op is an independent retail co-operative founded in 1861 and owned by some 250,000 members across Lincolnshire, North Nottinghamshire and East Yorkshire. We are a member of the National Association of Funeral Directors and registered with the Funeral Planning Authority. We offer set packages and bespoke funeral plans with various payment options and monies paid are invested in whole of life insurance policies with Royal London Mutual Insurance Society.

Central England Cooperative

Central England Co-operative Funeralcare, offers a range of Pre-paid Funeral Plan, at over 120 locations in 16 counties. Their plans are fully guaranteed including all third party charges, and monies are invested in life insurance policies backed by the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society.

Southern Co-op

Southern Co-op is an independent regional business owned by its
members. Established in Portsmouth (Hampshire) over 140 years ago, we have
funeral homes in accessible locations across the south of England in
Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex and
Wiltshire. We offer bespoke funeral plans to meet individual needs with
flexible payment options. All funeral plan monies paid are invested in
whole of life insurance policies.

Heart of England Co-operative Society Limited

Heart of England Co-operative Society is an independent retail co-operative business founded in 1832 in Coventry. We now serve client families through our funeral businesses in and around Coventry, Warwickshire, south Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. We are members of both the National Association of Funeral Directors and the Funeral Planning Authority. Currently we offer three set package funeral plans along with the option for a Tailor made bespoke plan and a plan to cover memorial masonry. The plan monies are invested through a whole of life insurance policy with Royal London Mutual.

The Midcounties Co-operative Ltd

The Midcounties Co-operative is the second largest member owned independent co-operative in the U.K. It provides locally owned and managed services to a large region that broadly runs from Walsall and Woverhampton in the west to High Wycombe and Aylesbury in the east, Gloucester, Cheltenham and Swindon in the south and Litchfield in the north. It has over 80 funeralcare homes in its region.

Open Funeral Plans

Tamworth Co-operative Society Ltd

Tamworth Co-operative Society offers Tamworth Co-operative Funeral Service Guaranteed Plans to all our customers in Tamworth, Uttoxeter, Woodville and the West Midlands.

Scotmid Co–Operative Funerals

Scotmid Co-operative is Scotland’s largest independent co-operative and has been at the heart of Scottish communities since being founded in Edinburgh in 1859. Scotmid Co-operative Funeral Directors are members of the National Association of Funeral Directors and are recommended by the Good Funeral Guide. They provide burial and cremation funeral plans, the funds are held in individual life insurance policies backed by the Royal London Mutual Insurance Societ

Family Funerals Trust Limited

Family Funerals Trust Limited offers Pre-payment and Pre-arrangement Funeral Plan to its customers.

Clydebank Cooperative.

List of FPA Regulated Firms, or as the Funeral Planning Authority prefers to call them. FPA Registered Firms.

Funeral Planning Authority Code of Practice.

Current until 31st December 2019, then the revised code takes over.

1. Conduct

Plan Providers:
1.1 Must act in a courteous, sensitive, dignified and professional manner and, in particular, must not pressurise potential customers to buy funeral plans;

1.2 Must not make unsolicited visits or unsolicited telephone calls to potential customers and, in particular, to residents of nursing homes, residential care homes or other similar establishments;

1.3 Must respect the confidential nature of information given to them and only use that information for its proper purpose;

1.4 In recommending another business, must disclose any interest they may have in that business;

1.5 Must not make misleading comments about the quality or appropriateness of any funeral plan which a customer has already purchased or is thinking of purchasing.

Plan Providers:

2.1 Must ensure that any marketing or advertising which they undertake does not bring the funeral planning industry into disrepute and that their marketing and advertising:

is always in good taste;

is legal, decent, honest and truthful and complies with all the other requirements of the British Code of Advertising Practice or other relevant Code of Practice;

only contains third party endorsements or sponsorship which have been specifically approved by that third party;

makes no unsubstantiated claims about funeral plans or services provided by others;

2.2 Must provide their employees, agents and representatives with training and written guidance on sales practices which ensures that potential customers are given sufficient information to make informed decisions about buying a funeral plan.

3. Information

Plan Providers must provide potential customers with written details of any funeral plan being offered, which clearly sets out:

3.1 The type and cost of funerals and other services which can be provided under the funeral plan;

3.2 Any costs which may not be met by the funeral plan;

3.3 Any administration charges which the customer will need to pay;

3.4 If the plan is paid for by instalments, what happens if someone dies before all payments have been made;

3.5 The customer’s right to a full refund if the plan is cancelled within 14 days of its commencement and any rights to a refund which the customer has if the plan is cancelled by the customer after that time;

3.6 What happens if the Plan Provider cannot meet its obligations under the plan;

3.7 How a customer may complain about the Plan Provider or any plan provided and how such complaints will be handled;

3.8 The other terms and conditions which apply to the plan.

4. Contracts and Documents

Plan Providers must give every person who buys a funeral plan:

4.1 A written contract which sets out the plan’s terms and conditions and, in particular, the specification of the funeral to be provided and how the funeral plan may be amended or cancelled;

4.2 A membership card or certificate of entitlement. A Plan Provider must replace a lost card or certificate once free of charge but may charge a reasonable fee for providing any further replacement cards or certificates;

4.3 Written guidance on how to register a death.

5. Plan Funds

Providers must comply with the Authority’s Rules relating to the security of plan funds. In particular, those Rules require Plan Providers to either:

5.1 Apply money received for funeral plans, as soon as practicable towards a contract of whole life assurance with an authorised person who has permission to effect and carry out such contracts of insurance; or

5.2.1 Pay money received for funeral plan, as soon as practicable, into an account maintained by trustees (the majority of whom must be unconnected with the Plan Provider) who have been approved by the Authority;

5.2.2 Have the funds invested by an independent fund manager who is authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;

5.2.3 Have the trust funds audited annually and reviewed by an actuary;

5.2.4 Only use the trust funds for their proper purpose.

6. Complaints and Disputes

6.1 The Authority’s Rules require Plan Providers to comply with this Code of Practice and they may be liable to disciplinary action if they fail to do so.

6.2 A customer who is dissatisfied with the service provided by a Plan Provider should, in the first place, contact that Plan Provider who must reply to the customer in writing within 7 working days of receiving a complaint.

6.3 If a Plan Provider cannot resolve a complaint to the customer’s satisfaction, the customer should contact the Authority (whose address and telephone number are set out below). The Authority provides an independent conciliation and arbitration service through The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

6.4 Plan Providers are required to co-operate with the customer redress procedures and to participate in the independent conciliation and arbitration service mentioned in paragraph 6.3. Plan Providers are bound by an arbitrator’s decision, subject to the right of the Plan Provider or the customer to seek a review of the decision.

6.5 If in the course of any conciliation, or following the conclusion of any arbitration, it appears that a Plan Provider has infringed this Code of Practice, the Authority may take disciplinary action against that Plan Provider in accordance with its Rules.

6.6 Plan Providers must:

Provide on all price lists and other promotional material an address (or, if this is not practicable, a telephone number) to which communications may be directed;

display a copy of this Code of Practice at their place of business and have copies available to distribute to customers and others free of charge;

display the logo of the Authority at their place of business and on all price lists and other promotional material;

co-operate fully with those representing consumers including trading standards officers, Citizens’ Advice Bureau or other consumer advisers.

7. Pledge to Customers

All Plan Providers shall co-operate in the delivery of the Authority’s “Pledge to Customers” by which, in the event of the insolvency of a Plan Provider, the other Plan Providers will examine ways in which the Authority might assist in arranging delivery of the funeral of the customers of the insolvent Plan Provider. The extent of this co-operation will be at the discretion of the individual Plan Providers.

Anyone who experiences difficulty in obtaining services under a funeral plan because a Plan Provider or funeral director is insolvent or no longer in business should immediately contact the Authority.

FPA Regulated Firms

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