When a loved one dies suddenly, finding out whether they had a funeral plan can reduce some of the strain that you are undergoing. Over 210,000 prepaid funeral plans are sold annually in the UK as people prepare their own funerals. However, sometimes it's unclear if such a plan exists. This article will help you discover if your loved one had a prepaid funeral plan, and this should save you a lot of time and money. We explore the steps to take so you can find out if a funeral plan exists and with which funeral plan company.

Checking With Your Local Funeral Director

If your loved one pre-booked a funeral, it may have been with a local funeral director. If you know which funeral director, you can contact them directly for record verification. Use this list of registered funeral plan providers with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Furthermore, you could also check with Co-op Funeralcare or Dignity, the two largest funeral directors in the UK.

If it was a prepaid plan before 29 July 2022, you should verify the director's registration and compliance with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which replaced the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA) on that date, now defunct.  This change enforced stricter consumer protection regulations on pre-paid funeral plans. It is important to note that certain providers, like Safe Hands, Empathy, and Not For Profit Funeral Plans, have become insolvent. These plans were

My Funeral Matters Funeral Plan Tracing System 

In the absence of a centralised database of funeral plans, you can contact My Funeral Matters, which has replaced the Funeral Planning Authority website: https://funeralplanningauthority.co.uk. At My Funeral Matters you can check whether your loved one had a funeral plan.



Here are 5 things to do or consider: 

1. Fill Out The Online Form

First of all, visit their website and then fill out their form: 

https://myfuneralmatters.co.uk/trace-a-funeral-plan/

2. The Follow-up

After submitting your form, an email is sent to all FCA registered funeral plan providers. If a match is identified, the specific funeral plan provider reaches out to you after data protection checks. However, if no plan is detected, neither the providers nor My Funeral Matters will initiate contact with you. If the funeral plan provider communicates with you, it will be directly and not through a third party i.e. My Funeral Matters. This protects any sensitive personal data about your next of kin in compliance with data protection laws.

3. Their Promise

It is important to note that My Funeral Matters does not guarantee a response because your loved one may not have taken out a funeral plan. In which case, they will not respond. However, they do commit to contacting all funeral plan providers registered with the FCA. All of these funeral plan organisations will be contacted once you initiate the search. 

4. Data Privacy 

My Funeral Matters will comply with the strict use of your information for reaching out to the funeral plan providers in compliance with data protection laws. Also, they uphold your data privacy by not selling your information. All data handling is fully compliant with GDPR and ICO procedures.

5. Small Fee

There will be a small service charge of £9.99 to use the funeral tracing system.



Other Ways To Find A Loved One’s Funeral Plan 

Check Bank Statements

Prepaid funeral plans are usually financed through monthly direct debits from a bank account. Therefore, examining your loved one’s bank statements or direct debit orders for any transactions linked to a funeral planning provider could be useful.

However, if they made the payment for a prepaid funeral or funeral planning service in cash, there may be no audit trail. For this reason, it is always best to pay for pre-paid funeral plans via monthly direct debit. 

Check Insurance Policies

A large number of elderly individuals in the UK have funeral plans incorporated into their insurance policies. Thus, this could be an alternative avenue to investigate for any pre-existing funeral plan that may be included in their insurance. 

Ask Family and Friends

It is possible that your loved one told friends or family about their pre-paid funeral plan. Therefore, it may be helpful to ask your loved one’s friends, family members, colleagues, etc, if they remember any discussions about funeral plans.

Summary

We hope you have found this article on tracing pre-paid funeral plans for your loved ones useful. Using the funeral plan tracing system is probably the easiest way to find out, and it only costs £9.99. However, in the meantime, you can also try some of the other avenues of investigation above. 

We wish you the very best of luck in finding the information you require at this difficult time for you and your family. 

For more information about My Funeral Matters; Contact