A guide to funeral plans

It is not something that we think about, not something that we want to think about anyway, but sometimes we have to plan for a funeral.

You should get a better idea of funeral plans with this guide.

What is a funeral plan?

A funeral plan enables you to protect your loved ones from the rising costs of holding a funeral for you. Essentially, you can plan and pay towards the arrangements of a funeral in advance.

At current, the average price of a funeral in the UK is around £3,700 and this is increasing year after year. A funeral plan works by freezing today’s price as it is and enables you to pay the amount in one lump sum or in small amounts each month, if you prefer.

A funeral plan can be personalised to fit your criteria. The money that goes into it will contribute towards a number of funeral costs such as a burial or cremation, a limousine and a religion service if required.

The rising cost of funerals

The prices of funerals in the UK are rising at an alarming rate, and are continuing to grow in this way. Obviously, the price of a funeral can vary widely depending on what choices you make for the service.

For example, if you choose to have a burial you can look to be paying around £870 all the way up to around £7,200 depending on the cost of the coffin you choose and the location which you are buried in. The price is so steep because of the high levels of demand in UK grave sites driving the price up.

On the other hand, cremation is a cheaper, yet still expensive option. Again, depending on a variety of factors the cost of cremation can vary from £500 to £900.

These costs are clearly very pricey and they are only going up. When you sign up to a funeral plan, the price of the funeral remains at today’s fixed price. Therefore, no matter how much the cost of a funeral rises in the coming years, you will have nothing to worry about since you have a set amount to pay off, agreed at the time you take the plan out which does not change.

After some extensive research by Golden Charter, the cost of holding a funeral has risen by 103% in the last 12 years. If this continues, that cost of a funeral will rise from around £4,000 pounds as of 2017, to over £12,000 by the year 2036.

What dos a prepaid funeral plan pay for?

Having the safety blanket of a pre-paid funeral can make your life easier at a time of great stress and grief. If you have a funeral plan in place, you will not have to worry about covering the cost of the following, as the funeral plan sum covers these:

• Funeral Director’s costs
• Cremation fees (this may depend on the plan)
• Minister’s fees
• Religious Service requirements
• Hertz/limousine
• Coffin

How much do funeral plans cost?

With a funeral plan, you can choose to pay the amount of money as one lump sum or in small instalments on a monthly basis.

Funeral plans typically cost in the range of £3,000 to £4,300 and allow you to contribute towards any funeral costs in one lump sum or in monthly instalments starting from £25 per month.

Are they safe?

Yes, a funeral plan is very safe and protected by your provider. They place all your financial contributions into a trust fund or invest it in an insurance policy that will pay out when you or the policy holder dies.

All those who offer a funeral plan have to follow a code of conduct set out by the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA). The code sets out that the FPA’s members and the FPA must pledge that if the provider ends up going bankrupt, they will look into paying for funeral that are covered by funeral plans.