Test Funeral Plans - Plan lapsed

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Generally speaking, there are a number of reasons your plan may have lapsed. 

Most commonly, if you’re paying by instalments or insurance and miss a payment by more than 60 days (the time period may vary from provider to provider), any price guarantee included in your plan may lapse.  The consequence of not maintaining payments will vary depending on whether you’ve got an instalment or insurance plan.

Lapsed Instalment Plans

  • This means that if the planholder dies and the funeral goes ahead, the cost of the funeral will most likely be charged at current prices (not the price of the funeral when the plan was purchased) and any instalments paid and not refunded will go towards the cost.
  • Alternatively, the plan can be cancelled if the nominated funeral director isn’t used. Your initial investment will be refunded (minus the cancellation fee). You won’t see a return on your investment – or any adjustments for inflation. 
  • If your plan has lapsed because of a missed instalment, it can generally be reinstated by bringing payments up to date (taking inflation into account).
  • If you think your plan has lapsed incorrectly, you should contact your funeral plan provider as soon as possible.

Lapsed Insurance Plans

  • This means that if the planholder dies and the funeral goes ahead, the cost of the funeral will most likely be charged at current prices (not the price of the funeral when the plan was purchased).
  • If you miss a payment, you will generally have a period of time (one or two months from the date of the missed payment) to pay it. If you pay the full amount within this period, your plan won’t be affected. If a plan holder died within this period, any claim would generally be reduced by the amount of any outstanding payments and the plan provider will normally honour the price.
  • If you miss payments and they are not paid within the period, you can’t start making payments again or otherwise make up missed payments. Your plan will be cancelled. You won’t get any payments back and you’ll have no contribution towards your funeral at all.
  • If you think your plan has lapsed incorrectly, you should contact your funeral plan provider as soon as possible. 
  • They should work with you to find a resolution.
You should know

How long should I wait for a response?

You should generally expect a response within 7 working days of a funeral plan provider receiving your complaint. If you don’t receive a response within this timeframe, send a follow-up message via Resolver!

How can I take things further? 

Not all funeral plan providers are regulated! Double-check that your funeral plan provider is signed up to the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA).

If your funeral plan provider is FPA registered, you can escalate your case to the FPA who will try and help you resolve your complaint. The FPA also has an independent conciliation and arbitration service if your complaint cannot be resolved.

The Funeral Planning Authority (FPA)

The funeral plan market is served by the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA). The FPA is an opt-in organisation that regulates the funeral planning providers who sign up to its service with a stringent code of conduct. 

Generally speaking, you should always check to see that your funeral plan provider is an FPA approved business. 

You should expect FPA-registered organisations to stick to their code of conduct – and if they don’t, you can take the matter to the FPA. 

Unfortunately, companies who haven’t signed up to the FPA are unregulated. This is an issue that has been recognised by the industry – and as of 2019 HMT have proposed that funeral plans should be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or other statutory regulator, subsequent to a consultation.

Resolver’s rights guides are largely drawn from the FPA’s code of conduct. We believe the code sets a minimum level of expectation that all funeral plan providers and funeral directors should aim to live up to. Be aware that you won't be able to escalate your case to the FPA if your funeral plan provider isn’t registered with them. Be warned that organisations who aren’t FPA registered might not live up to expectations and aren’t bound to any particular code of conduct!

We highly recommend that you check that your plan provider or director is FPA registered before buying a plan.

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