I normally think of milestones as positive things – especially when I’m on a long hike and I pass the 10 mile mark! But this month’s milestone at Down to Earth feels more bittersweet.
It shows just how much we all need the funeral industry to be better regulated, and the challenges involved in making that happen.
So what is this milestone? Our Down to Earth team has reported over 500 funeral companies (and 12 crematoria) to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), for non-compliance with transparency requirements in their pricing and payment terms.
Bereaved people deserve transparency on funeral costs
In 2021, the CMA brought into force its Funerals Market Investigation Order. This places several legal requirements on UK funeral directors, for example to display all their prices online and in branch. It also requires them to share a Standardised Price List covering set products and services.
When people are bereaved, they are often at a vulnerable point in their lives – emotionally and sometimes financially too. It is crucial that they can access funeral prices easily, so that they can make the right decisions for them with the minimum stress.
However, this month’s milestone shows that some companies fail to recognise this and continue to flout the law.
The funeral industry needs full-scale regulation
As well as having already reported over 500 companies, nearly four years after the CMA Order came in we are still reporting 18-25 every quarter. This indicates the scale of the CMA’s task, both in terms of the size of the funeral industry, and in creating a cultural shift within it.
However, and perhaps above all, it highlights the need for full-scale regulation of the industry.
Other than the CMA Order, the at-need funeral sector (funerals booked after someone has died, as opposed to pre-paid funeral plans which are taken out while people are still alive) is unregulated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You may be shocked to learn that anyone can set up as a funeral director without any training, registration or licensing.
This has to change. Until it does, mapping the funeral sector and maintaining a grasp of it will always be a bit like trying to define the boundaries of jelly.
It is another reason why our painstaking work reporting funeral companies is so important: it has helped the CMA to map a scattered sector, identify priorities and develop their enforcement strategy.
This is reflected in the fact that the number of non-compliant funeral directors being investigated by the CMA in February 2024 was more than double that of the previous year, which was in large part due to our work.
Regulation works – for the bereaved and for funeral providers
Despite this rather bleak picture, things are getting better. Although we are still reporting funeral directors where we see them break the rules, the rate at which we are doing so has actually halved compared to 2021-3, when the CMA Order had just been made.
At Down to Earth, our helpline caseworkers experience the effects of these improvements in their daily work. They are now much more likely to find prices online when sourcing quotes for clients, making their jobs a lot easier.
Meanwhile, companies without legally compliant websites get excluded from the comparisons our caseworkers send to their clients, or are at least highlighted as not meeting their legal obligations. This means that clients will often not consider them as an option.
Price transparency is not only the legally and morally right thing to do, it also makes good business sense.
Funeral companies must stop failing in their duties on price transparency. Until this happens, we will continue to report companies that flout regulation, whatever milestone it takes us to.
QSA Down to Earth is the only UK-wide service for people struggling with funeral costs. Find our resources here.
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