Talking About Your Own Funeral

By Larvin-Clegg Funeral Care

Talking about your own funeral isn’t something that comes naturally to most of us.

We spend our working lives helping families arrange funerals for people they love, but there’s a very different conversation that sometimes takes place in our funeral home: someone sitting down with us to talk about their own funeral.

Often, it isn’t a sad conversation at all. It’s simply someone saying, “I don’t want my family having to make all these decisions when the time comes.” For some people, that means writing down their wishes. For others, it means looking into a prepaid funeral plan. And this is where our role, and the regulations surrounding funeral plans, are important to understand.

Since July 2022, funeral plan providers and intermediaries carrying out regulated funeral plan activities have been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Larvin-Clegg Funeral Directors is an Introducer Appointed Representative (IAR) of Open Prepaid Funerals Limited (‘Open’). Open is authorised and regulated by the FCA as a funeral plan provider under firm reference number 962403. In simple terms, we can talk to you about the funeral services we provide and give you Open’s approved information about its plans and prices. What we cannot do is advise you about a funeral plan, recommend one, help you choose between plans or arrange one for you.

That can occasionally seem a little strange when you’re sitting across the desk from a funeral director you’ve specifically come to for help, but those boundaries are there for a reason.

If you would like to explore a plan further, with your permission we can introduce you to Open and arrange a free, no-obligation telephone or video call with one of their Plan Arrangers. We can even join the call if you’d like our support. Open provides the regulated information and, should you decide to proceed, arranges the plan with you. The plans are priced using our prices and reflect local costs. When the funeral eventually takes place, our family here at Larvin-Clegg will look after the funeral locally.

Importantly, planning ahead doesn’t have to mean buying anything.

You’re equally welcome to talk to us about the funeral you would like and record your wishes. A prepaid funeral plan is a financial product and may not be suitable for everyone, so it’s important to understand the price, payment options, what’s included, exclusions and cancellation terms before making a decision.

Sometimes planning ahead is simply about having a conversation.

And we’re always happy to have one.