How to find out if someone has a funeral plan
Locating the funeral plan of a person who has died isn't always easy. Here are some things you can try.
When someone in your life dies, there can be a lot to be done as well as lots of emotions to process. Chief among these administrative tasks is organising a funeral.
Some people in the UK choose to take out funeral plans. This involves pre-paying for funeral costs such as the funeral director, the coffin, the hearse and the cremation or burial. In 2024,
1.75 million people had plans, with 184,000 taking new ones out in that year alone.
It can happen, however, that a funeral plan gets mislaid. If this happens to you, it can be stressful to locate it when you're supposed to be organising a funeral.
There are, however, concrete steps you can take to locate a funeral plan.
1. Ask your local funeral director
If the person who died had a funeral plan, they may have organised it with their local funeral director. You can contact them directly asking if this is correct.
You could also check with the bigger funeral directors in the UK. The three biggest are Co-op Funeralcare, Dignity Group and Funeral Partners.
2. Ask people in the person's life
It may be that the person who has died told a friend, family member or even colleague about their funeral plans. If you can't find the plan, it can be worth asking around to see if anyone can point you in the right direction.
3. Check the paperwork of the person who died
A person's funeral plan may be recorded in their paperwork.
Funeral plans are often paid by monthly Direct Debits, meaning past bank statements should be your first port of call. If they paid in cash, however, you'll have to look through their paperwork for references to their funeral plan.
You should also check insurance policy documentation, as many people in the UK have funeral plans worked into their insurance policies.
If you do find evidence of a funeral plan in the person's paperwork, you can then directly contact the funeral provider for more information.
H3: 4. Use Find My Plan
Find My Plan is a free online search tool from the National Association of Funeral Plan Providers (NAFPP). It checks with funeral plan providers across the country to find your plan so that you don't have to contact them one by one.
Your request is shared with funeral plan providers. If a match is found, they will contact you directly. If no match is found, however, you won't hear back.
To use Find My Plan, you need to complete a search form. You should enter as much information as you can about the person who may have held the plan and any details you know about it. Useful information includes previous names, old addresses and provider details. You then verify your email address and submit your search.
Find My Plan can be used by planholders themselves or friends and family members searching for the plan of a person who died. In this second instance, you may need legal authority to make the request (for instance, being an executor of the estate).
5. Look on My Funeral Matters
My Funeral Matters is a similar service to Find My Plan. It's a database containing information about most of the UK's funeral plan providers. As with Find My Plan, you make a request and the company sends it to all the providers on its database.
The main difference is that My Funeral Matters is a paid service. It costs £9.99 per search.
6. Look at online funeral notices
If you're not responsible for organising the funeral, you can find out if someone had a funeral plan by checking online funeral notices and local newspapers. These may not tell you directly about a pre-paid funeral plan, but they might point you in the right direction.
What is a funeral plan?
A funeral plan involves paying for some or all of your funeral costs in advance. This can give peace of mind to the planholder and reduce financial strain for the people they leave behind. The most common alternative is to leave money in your will to cover your funeral costs.
A funeral plan typically includes a funeral director's service, a coffin, a hearse and the cost of cremation or burial. Plans can include extras and vary in price accordingly.
If you do take out a funeral plan, it can be advisable to involve family members or friends. This means they'll know where your funeral plan is and what to do when you die. You should also let your funeral plan provider know if you change your address.
Why take out a funeral plan?
Not everyone can afford a funeral plan. For those who can, it has several advantages. Like all aspects of the funeral industry, however, there are no right or wrong decisions – only different approaches.
People who take out funeral plans point to the fact that they cover essential costs, which can reduce financial strain for loved ones. Some also point to the fact that you can lock in present prices and avoid future price increases.
What does a funeral plan cost?
Funeral plans typically cost somewhere between £3,000 and £5,000. This depends on what's included in the plan. Direct cremation, for instance, costs much less than a plan with a hearse and a wood-effect coffin.
Can I buy a funeral plan for someone else?
Yes, you can set up a funeral plan for another person. This could be a parent, a partner or another loved one. Taking out a funeral plan for someone else can be a way to ease their financial burden and make sure their funeral wishes are honoured.
Akshardham Funeral Directors is a team of experienced
funeral directors in North London. We work with people of all backgrounds and funerals to give them the funeral they want.
