What happens to the money that I pay for my Personal Funeral Plan?

All the monies that you pay towards your Personal Funeral Plan are made out to the Ethical Funeral Plans Trust, a special Trust Fund set up to give extra security to your funds. The only money that Funeral Plans Online receives is the administration fee for your funeral. This means that the monies for your Personal Funeral Plan remain secure in the Trust Fund and will be there to pay for your funeral plan to be carried out in the future, whenever that might be.

What is the Ethical Funeral Plans Trust?

The Ethical Funeral Plans Trust is a Trust that has been especially set up to take care of your funeral plan monies. It is independent of Funeral Plans Online, so no matter what happens to the company in the future, the monies for your funeral will remain safe and secure, and available to pay the funeral director. The Trust is run by trustees who have been selected for their financial experience and their ethical standing.

How am I protected against future price rises?

Fund managers, under the direction of the Trustees of the Ethical Funeral Plans Trust, invest your funds to ensure that they return an increase to cover the rising costs of your Personal Funeral Plan.

How do I know that my funds will be secure?

The activities of Funeral Plans Online, and the Trustees and Fund Managers of the Ethical Funeral Plans Trust are governed by regulations drawn up by the Financial Services Authority. This body is charged with ensuring that as many safeguards as possible have been taken to ensure that your funds will be secure into the future. The only ways in which funds can be withdrawn from the Ethical Funeral Plans Trust Fund are by you cancelling your plan or by the Trust paying for your funeral. For more details about the security of your funds, see our Ethical Statement.

Are there any health tests?

No. Whatever your state of health you can make a Personal Funeral Plan with Funeral Plans Online. So we can help you whether you are planning for arrangements that, you hope, will not be required for many years into the future, or even if you are terminally ill and want to make sure that your funeral is as you want it to be.

What are the Inheritance Tax implications of taking out a funeral plan?

We believe that if you are liable to pay Inheritance Tax, and decide to buy a funeral plan, that the funds used to buy the plan will not be considered to be part of your estate. But please seek professional financial advice for confirmation.

What happens if I want to cancel my Personal Funeral Plan?

You can cancel your Personal Funeral Plan at any time. If you cancel it within the first 14 days, you are entitled to a full refund. Thereafter the administration fee, and any finance handling costs, are deducted. See our Terms and Conditions for more details.

Will my family have to pay any money at the time of my funeral?

The cost of your funeral is made up of two components: ‘Funeral Director Costs’, which cover services supplied directly by your funeral director; and ‘Disbursements (Standard and Additional)’ which cover the cost of items that the funeral director pays on your behalf to other suppliers (e.g. crematorium, minister, specialist transport supplier, etc).

Funeral Plans Online guarantee that the items specified as ‘Funeral Director Costs’ in your Personal Funeral Plan will be covered in full at the time of your funeral, whatever happens to inflation.

The monies that have been set aside for ‘Standard Disbursements’ and ‘Additional Disbursements’ are guaranteed to have grown (as specified in detail in the Terms and Conditions) in line with the Retail Price Index. If the cost of these services (which are supplied by third parties) have grown to an amount that is greater than is in your Personal Funeral Plan, the balance will be payable by the person arranging your funeral.

What if I change my wishes?

This is not a problem. You can update your Personal Funeral Plan at any time. Again, see our Terms and Conditions for further details.

What happens to my Personal Funeral Plan if I change my address?

If you are only moving locally, and staying in the same price zone, you may want to keep all your Personal Funeral Plan details as before. But do let us know your new address as it is important that we keep this up to date on our records.

If you move to a different price zone, there are a few different options open to you. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions for details.

Who will carry out my funeral?

Your funeral will be carried out by a funeral director who has been quality checked by Funeral Plans Online. It will not necessarily, therefore, be the funeral director closest to where you live.