Funeral plan reality warning

elosarabrab

My sister had a funeral plan with the Co Op. She believed it covered everything. Only after her death I discovered all that was paid for was the coffin and the hearse. She paid in to the plan for 8 years. I had to find money for the cremation and everything else. She would have been really upset by this. Looking at the leaflet they have advertising such plans it has in big writing peace of mind, no bills, everything taken care of. It made a very distressing time even worse. It is sickening the amount of money they try and take from you when you are at your most vulnerable. Even charging £15 for what was essentially a plastic jar with a screw top lid to put her ashes in.

Yorkshireman99

elosarabrab wrote: »

My sister had a funeral plan with the Co Op. She believed it covered everything. Only after her death I discovered all that was paid for was the coffin and the hearse. She paid in to the plan for 8 years. I had to find money for the cremation and everything else. She would have been really upset by this. Looking at the leaflet they have advertising such plans it has in big writing peace of mind, no bills, everything taken care of. It made a very distressing time even worse. It is sickening the amount of money they try and take from you when you are at your most vulnerable. Even charging £15 for what was essentially a plastic jar with a screw top lid to put her ashes in.

What is also bad is that relatives such as you are pressured into paying when they have no legal liability to do so. The local authority is responsible for paying if there are insufficient funds. The exception is if the death occurs in hospital when the hospital has to pay. Many people make the mistake of becoming liable by arranging the funeral when they are very vulnerable.

geminilady

People should always read carefully what they are signing up for.The contract should have stated what was covered.My son works for a similar company and it states exactly what is covered and what is not.I would have thought a big company like the Co op would have a similar contract.

elosarabrab

Hi Jason,
The documents all say The Co-Op Funeral care Funeral Assist in partnership with Axa Sunlife. She gave me a card with the policy details on.
Terms and conditions were in her main paperwork which I did not find before the funeral. I looked again today tucked away it does say disbursements not included. I am sure like many people she didn't go through it with a fine tooth comb so it will be chalked up to her own fault for not checking everything.

elosarabrab

reply on here is fine. Any information may be of help to others

molerat

Jason - you need to contact forum admin to post as an official rep. Please do it quickly as I would not wish your good intentioned posts to be deleted.

elosarabrab

Thanks for the information Jason. It really is a confusing issue and unfortunately people only find out at the time of bereavement like I did.

Co-op_Funeralcare

Hi - I'm just reposting my original answer, that had been removed above. I had not gained the correct permission from MSE at first to post on behalf of Co-op Funeralcare, so apologies. This is all now sorted from the forum admin guys and my account has been verified.






Thank you. I agree it would be very helpful for others to understand the difference between the different funeral planning products and how a funeral cost is made up.





Many people don't know that funeral costs are basically split into 2 parts.


1 - The Funereal Director costs. These are the costs associated with the funeral director themselves, so include bringing your loved one into their care, the arrangement of the funeral, the coffin, liaison with all the third parties, use of the funeral home facilities such as Chapel of Rests and private remembrance rooms, the hearse on the day of the funeral, all necessary staff to carry out the funeral etc.


2 - Third party fees (often called disbursements) which the funeral director pays on your behalf, but does not control the cost of. So these are the crematoria fees charged by the local council or private operator, the doctor's fees to certify to death (there's no charge in Scotland) and the officiant/minister/celebrant fee to lead the service. Or if a burial is chosen they cover the interment (burial) fee and the service fee at the church or other venue, but not the cost of the grave/lair plot itself.





The product your sister chose and bought directly from Sunlife was as you stated on the documents, the "Funeral Assist". This product covered the funeral director costs only and not the disbursements. Sunlife also offered their Funeral Plan at the time which did also cover disbursements. This is why you have had the additional crematoria fees to pay. Also, the cost of the urn for your sister's ashes was charged by the crematoria.





If you buy a Funeral Plan from the Co-op Funeralcare, these all cover the full cost including the disbursements.





Another thing to check carefully with Funeral Plan providers is the amount covered by disbursements. Co-op Funeralcare Funeral Plans fully guarantee these costs no matter how much they may rise in the future. Crematoria fees in particular have risen significantly in the past few years. Nearly all other funeral plan providers only offer a 'contribution' or ‘allowance’ towards these that in many instances don’t even cover the cost they are today.





The average third party (disbursement fees) in 2015, for funerals arranged by the Co-op Funeralcare were £1,015. Some of the other major Funeral Plan providers are offering less than that now as their contribution if you buy a Funeral Plan today. So, sadly some families will have more to pay towards funeral costs in the future, even if their loved one bought a Funeral Plan thinking they had fully covered the costs.





Some other providers offer products to help towards funeral costs, often called Guaranteed Over 50’s and these are like insurance. They pay a fixed amount which can be used to pay towards a funeral, but won’t necessarily cover the whole cost.





It really pays to know the difference between them all and I hope this reply will help others decide the best option for them.





The leaflet you have seen from the Co-op Funeralcare promoting our Funeral Plans if bought directly from us really does cover the full funeral cost and third party fees, to give peace of mind.


I’d finally like to offer my sincere sympathies to you, for losing your sister. I know from personal experience how hard it is to arrange a funeral for a close family member, but I trust in spite of all of this, you were able to remember happy times and celebrate her life as you said your goodbyes.





Kind regards
Jason

ska_lover

That is a really good explanation