Funeral plan contract meaning

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is no longer maintained. Amid concerns about potential consumer harm in the pre-paid funeral plan market, HM Treasury launched a call for evidence on sector regulation in June 2018. Responses indicated that detriment was occurring and that mandatory regulation was required. After evaluating various options, including establishing a new statutory regulator, the UK government concluded that extending Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) oversight to all funeral plan providers was the most effective and proportionate way to strengthen market regulation. On 1 June 2019, HM Treasury opened a consultation to gather stakeholder views on proposed legislative changes to bring every funeral plan provider within the FCA’s jurisdiction. The government issued its consultation response in March 2020, confirming its final policy to amend the regulatory framework accordingly. It should be noted that, under article 59(1) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, SI 2001/544 (RAO), entering into a funeral plan contract as a provider was already a regulated activity…

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note outlines information on the regulated activities of entering, as provider, into funeral plan contracts and performing funeral plan contracts as provider under article 59 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, SI 2001/544 (RAO), as amended from time to time. It also highlights the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) regulatory framework as it applies to those undertaking these regulated funeral plan activities. Entering into funeral plan contracts Under RAO, SI 2001/544, art 59(1), entering into a funeral plan contract in the capacity of provider is a regulated activity. The FCA defines a ‘provider’ as the person who receives the pre-payments and undertakes to provide, or to arrange the provision of, the funeral at a future point. This could be the funeral director or a third party that arranges for someone else to deliver the funeral. A funeral plan contract is a contract where: a person (‘the customer’) makes one or more...