Cost of dying boosts funeral plan sales above £500m

Funeral plan provider Golden Charter revealed on Wednesday that rising funeral inflation has boosted pre-paid funeral sales to record levels above £500m paid into last year.

The total number of plan sales by providers registered with the Funeral Planning Authority rose 9% in the UK to 147,325 in 2014 and Golden Charter claimed the industry is confident of continued strong growth this year.

The company added that increased concern about paying for a funeral is what has driven the growth as approximately 100,000 families a year struggle to afford the cost of a funeral.

With average plans costing £3,400, sales in 2014 reached £500m while all plans combined injected more than £3.2bn into the sector.

According to Golden Charter chief executive Ronnie Wayte, “funeral plan sales have shown strong and consistent growth since 2006 and are increasingly a major part of later life planning”.

He added: “Pre-paid funeral plans give people comfort that their funeral is paid for and that they can have the funeral they want. While it may not be a subject we like talking about nobody wants to leave a debt burden on their families.

“People expect choice and quality of service in whatever they do and there are few more personal purchases than planning your own funeral. Combine this with a straight forward, good value financial proposition and people are increasingly happy to plan ahead.”