Your questions

Your funeral will be carried out by The Co-operative Funeralcare, the UK’s leading Funeral Director. All participating Co-operative Funeral Homes and affiliated Funeral Directors will accept our Plans. You’ll find a full list of Funeral Homes that accept our plans here. So, when you take out a Plan with us you can record which of our many Funeral Homes you would like to entrust with your funeral arrangements. It also means if you do move house, it’s easy to change this information – simply call us or write to us to let us know.

All Co-operative Funeralcare Funeral Plans are fully guaranteed, which means that all of the services included in our Plans are covered and there will be no more to pay for them, no matter how much prices rise.

• If you choose one of our Set Plans, all the items detailed in the Plan are covered
• If you choose a Tailor-made Plan, the Funeral Director will help you to choose the services that you want the Plan to cover and record the details and prices of these services for you on your Application Form.
• Everyone arranging a Plan with us will receive a Plan Summary once the application has been completed, which confirms the details of the services chosen.

Our Plans are available to anyone over the age of 18. The only exception is if you choose a Set Funeral Plan and pay by Fixed Monthly Payment in which case the intended Plan Holder will need to be between 50 and 80 years old when the Plan is taken out.

For more information about Set Funeral Plans and Fixed Monthly Payments please see our Ways to pay pages.

No, there are no medical questions and there is no medical required when applying for any of our Funeral Plans. It doesn't matter whether you have any existing medical conditions or not.

Yes, all of our Plans and payment options allow you to buy a Plan for someone else. If you do this, as the Plan Purchaser you will receive all of the correspondence about the Plan and you will have all of the rights to the Plan and be responsible for paying for it. To provide you with flexibility for the unknown, these rights and responsibilities may be transferred to the Plan Holder (the person the Plan is for) if you were to die before them.

When you take out a Plan with us, you receive a Documents Folder which contains everything you need to know about your Plan. The folder contains useful information explaining exactly what to do with the documents as well as what the person arranging the funeral will need to do when the time comes. If you have any questions about your Plan simply call The Funeral Planning Team on 0800 088 4872 or contact your local Co-operative Funeralcare Funeral Director. Our Funeral Directors can be contacted at any time if you or the person who will be arranging your funeral has any questions or concerns and will give all the help and support needed.

With all our Funeral Plans you will have the opportunity to record any Personal Wishes you might have, such as special readings, the type of service or music to be played. A Personal Wishes form will be included within your Documents Folder which can be completed when you initially arrange your Plan or at any time in the future. You can record:

• Requests to personalise the services already included in your Set Plan such as choices of hymns, music and readings.
• Requests for services which are not included in your Set Plan, such as additional limousines, a newspaper notice, or a memorial. These services will need to be paid for by the person arranging your funeral at the time. Once we have received your Wishes form we will store them until the time comes. We can’t guarantee your Funeral Wishes but your Funeral Director will work closely with the person arranging the funeral to make sure it is exactly as you would have wanted.
  
  With our Tailor-made Plans, you can include detailed Funeral Plan Arrangement Requests such as deciding on flowers, newspaper notices, what you would like to happen to jewellery or other personal items etc. The Funeral Director will discuss and record all of your wishes for you and any costs will be included in the Plan price. You can add to or amend your Funeral Plan Arrangement Wishes at any time and as often as you like by contacting your local Co-operative Funeralcare Funeral Home.

The person arranging the funeral may wish to include further services such as flowers, additional limousines, newspaper notices, or burial or scattering of ashes which are not included in your Plan. The Funeral Director will help to arrange these services and they will need to be paid for in full at the time of the funeral by the person who arranges them.

All our Co-operative Funeralcare Funeral Plans are fully guaranteed and there will be nothing more to pay for the services included in your Plan. Sometimes we will be charged for services at the time of the funeral which will need to be paid for, such as if the person arranging the funeral wants it to take place during a weekend or on a Bank Holiday. If you have a Set Funeral Plan and we need to transport the deceased further than the 50-mile radius allowed for in the Plan or by a route which involves a ferry crossing or tolls, then these costs will need to be paid for by the person arranging the funeral. Full details of occasional charges are provided in the Terms and Conditions.

We have a choice of payment options available according to the type of Funeral Plan you arrange.

• A Set Funeral Plan can be paid for in full with a single payment, by Direct Debit over a set period of 12, 24 or 36 months or by Fixed Monthly Payments. (The Fixed Monthly Payment option gives a more affordable monthly payment, but please carefully consider the conditions that apply).
• A Tailor-made Plan can be paid for in full with a single payment, or by Direct Debit over a set period of 12, 24, 36 or 60 months*, either with or without a deposit.

*60 month option not available on Tailor-made Memorial Masonry Plans

If you are paying by Direct Debit over 12, 24, 36 or 60 months, and you die before your Plan has been paid for in full, the person arranging the funeral can either:

• Pay any amount still owed as a single payment. This must be paid before the funeral can be arranged, or
• Cancel your Plan by writing to us. If this happens, a refund of all payments will be made to the Plan Purchaser or Plan Holder’s estate as appropriate, less a Cancellation Charge. (For details see the Terms and Conditions).

If you are paying by Fixed Monthly Payments and you die within two years of taking out the Plan, then we can’t honour the Plan. In these circumstances an amount equal to 120% of the payments made will be paid to your estate. If your death is beyond the first two years, you are entitled to the full Plan Benefits.

If you are paying by direct debit over 12, 24, 36 or 60 months and you miss a payment, we will give you 30 days of grace in which to make the payment and keep your Plan in place. If the overdue payment is not received within 30 days, we will cancel the Plan and return the money you have paid us, less the Cancellation Charge. (For details see the Terms and Conditions). If you are paying by Fixed Monthly Payments, and you miss a payment, we will give you 30 days of grace in which to make the payment and keep your Plan in place. If the overdue payment is not received within 30 days, your Plan will be cancelled and you will not get any money back.

Our Plans are suitable for funerals in mainland Great Britain and Northern Ireland. If you were to die abroad, then your Co-operative Funeralcare Funeral Director could assist with arranging repatriation (which you may be insured for). We can’t include this service in any of our Plans due to its uncertain nature, so it will need to be paid for at the time. Once repatriated to Great Britain or Northern Ireland, your Plan can then be used to arrange the funeral as normal.

If you have chosen a Set Plan for burial or cremation, the Plan cannot be changed or amended, for example by adding or removing individual items or benefits. If you want to change to a different type of Funeral Plan, we will have to cancel your original Plan. The Terms and Conditions will give you more details on how to cancel your Plan. If you have chosen a Tailor-made Plan, you can change the arrangements within it at any time, completely free of charge. Of course, if you add any extra services onto your Plan you will have to pay for any additional costs involved.

If you want to cancel within 30 days of taking out a Funeral Plan, we will give you a full refund. There will be no cancellation charge, no matter what type of Plan you have.

If you decide to cancel after the first 30 days and you are paying for your Plan in full with a single payment or in full over a set period, we will refund all the money you have paid, minus a cancellation fee of £250.

If you decide to cancel after the first 30 days and you are paying by Fixed Monthly Payments, your Plan has no cash value and you will not receive a refund of any monies paid. There won’t be any Cancellation Charge.

We are required by law to invest all the payments we receive for Funeral Plans into a Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulated Whole of Life policy or trust fund. If you are paying in full for your Funeral Plan, we will invest the money in The Co-operative Insurance Whole of Life policy. If you are paying by fixed monthly payments, we will invest it in a Whole of Life policy with AXA Sun Life plc.

Your money is managed under Financial Services Authority (FSA) guidelines and the fund is subject to yearly valuations and capital assessments. You are also protected by the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA) (call 0845 601 9619 or visit www.funeralplanningauthority.com for more details) of which The Co-operative Funeralcare is a member. The FPA have arrangements for resolving disputes between clients and the FPA registered providers.