As clear funeral pricing is now legally required we are seeking views on how QSA can continue supporting vulnerable customers.
Since September 2021 UK funeral directors are required to publish all their prices and third party fees both online and in branch, using a standardised price list for key elements. This is legally required by the Competition and Markets Authority following its detailed investigations into the funeral industry over the past three years.
QSA has been campaigning for clearer funeral pricing since the launch of its Fair Funerals pledge in 2015. Whilst we believe that price transparency could still go further, we are pleased that many elements for which QSA campaigned have been included in the requirements.
Pausing the Fair Funerals pledge
Now that funeral directors are legally required to publish their prices, QSA is pausing new applications to the Fair Funerals pledge, which is a voluntary commitment to price transparency by funeral directors.
This means that:
- As of now we have stopped taking new requests to sign the Fair Funerals pledge
- Current 2021 Fair Funerals pledge signatories may continue to display pledge stickers and certificates
- Any funeral directors who have already applied to join the pledge and are awaiting a response will receive 2021 stickers and certificates if they meet the pledge requirements
- Any funeral directors who have already applied to join the pledge and are required to make changes still have the opportunity to become compliant, and will receive 2021 stickers and certificates when they do so.
Consulting on our next steps
QSA is researching client vulnerability in the funeral sector to identify what further action we can take to try and ensure recently bereaved people are as well supported as possible when planning a funeral.
To help us with this, we would be very grateful to hear from anyone who has arranged a funeral within the last three years by completing a short survey about their experience. We are sorry for your recent loss. We are aware that this can be a sensitive topic and have carefully considered the questions included in the survey. We will also be hosting an online discussion group on Wednesday 10th March, 2022, at both 12pm and 1pm. If you are interested in joining us, you can find more details at the end of the survey.
We are also keen to hear the views of funeral directors. We would be very grateful to any client-facing funeral professional who is able to support the initial stage of this research by completing this version of the survey. We will also be hosting an online discussion group for funeral professionals on Thursday 17 March 2022 at 9.30am - more details on this are included in the survey.