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Choice Funeral Plans

Choice is the brand name of Alternative Planning Company, (APCL). APCL is a funeral planning company which was created in 2014 by the Funeral Partners Group. Choice Funeral Plans can be purchased with APCL direct, or they can be purchased in funeral homes which are operated by the Funeral Partners Group.

We only offer Choice Funeral Plans, and we cannot advise you whether our funeral plan is right for you. We encourage you to review your options and discuss your purchase with trusted friends and family members before you buy.

If you are interested in our funeral plans, we will do everything we can to help you make an informed decision as to whether our funeral plan offerings are right for you.

In the below guide we will cover the following subjects

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Our Company Structure

Alternative Planning Company Limited

Choice Funeral Plans are provided by Alternative Planning Company Limited (“APCL”). APCL is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) to sell funeral plans in the United Kingdom. You can see full details on the FCA register.

As of July 2022, all funeral plan providers in the United Kingdom must be authorised and regulated by the FCA.

APCL is part of the Funeral Partners Group.

Funeral Partners Group

The Funeral Partners Group provides both funeral plans (from APCL), and it also provides funeral services, at the time of need, for families who are bereaved.

Funeral Partners has a network of over 250 funeral homes, throughout the United Kingdom, in which most Choice Funeral Plans are redeemed.

We are proud of our history as a high-quality group of Funeral Directors that provide a service nationwide, but we are also routed in our local communities. Some of our Funeral Directors have been around for over 300 years.

Appointed Representatives

You may see that the funeral home where you are buying your funeral plan is an “Appointed Representative” of APCL. This means the local funeral home is permitted by APCL (and the FCA) to sell Choice Funeral Plans.

The name above the door of the funeral home is often referred to as a “trading name” or “trading style”, and the Appointed Representative is the legal name of the firm. Most Choice Funeral Plans in England & Wales are sold by Funeral Partners Limited, and in Northern Ireland they are sold by “Funeral Services Northern Ireland Limited”. All these legal entities are part of the Funeral Partners Group and have the appropriate permissions to offer funeral plans to you.

Equivalent Prices

Typically, we think our customers wish to purchase a funeral plan for the longer-term piece of mind of having their funeral plans documented and arranged in advance, as well as securing the price of Funeral Director Services.

However, some customers may be interested in what the equivalent price of the funeral services which are provided by the funeral plan would be today, if the funeral needed to purchase today (without a plan). This information may be particularly relevant in the sad circumstances where the Covered Individual has a life limiting illness, for example.

We aim to give you all the pricing information you may need to make an informed decision.

How we calculate the equivalent prices

If you purchase through one of our funeral homes, we will provide you with an equivalent price which is based on the funeral home you are nominating to carry out the funeral.

In our local advertising, we may provide you with an average “equivalent price”, based on the funeral homes which are being advertised in the local promotion.

In our national advertising, we will typically use a national average of all the funeral homes which belong to the Funeral Partners Group.

In our Choice Plus product, we offer a range of coffins, and some of these coffins are priced differently (if you were to purchase these coffins today, as part of a funeral). We use the lowest price coffin cost to calculate the equivalent price for the Choice Plus product.

Please always refer to the explanation provided regarding how the equivalent price has been calculated, and what date was used to calculate the equivalent price, so that you can make an informed decision.

If you require a different or up-to-date equivalent price at any point for any of our funeral homes, or you have any queries about the equivalent price calculation, please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can support you.

APCL Costs are included in the price of your plan

APCL does incur a costs to sell the funeral plan to you, of around £475.

This costs supports such things as promoting the funeral plan to you, paying for the documents associated with the product, fulfilling our regulatory obligations associated with the funeral plan, as well as paying for the APCL team (which is there to support you throughout your funeral plan purchase, and into the future until you funeral plan is redeemed).

APCL’s costs are taken from what you pay towards Funeral Director Services, and remaining monies are then invested in an insurance policy for the Covered Individual.

The £475 cost is therefore included in the price of your plan, and you do not have to pay a separate fee on top of the price of the plan.

National Association of Funeral Plan Providers (NAFPP)

The NAFPP is a trade association which works closely with its members and the FCA to improve and oversee the funeral planning industry.

Team members from APCL attend NAFPP meetings, and we work together with other members to make improvements for people who wish to buy funeral plans. The NAFPP also provides a free service for people who need to “trace a funeral plan”. By sending one form to the NAFPP, you may be able to trace a lost funeral plan.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

All funeral plans monies are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”).

This includes any funeral plans purchased before the commencement of regulation in July 2022.

If you have any questions about how FSCS protections apply to your funeral plan, please contact us at any point and we will help explain how the protection applies to your plan.

Cancellations

Choice Funeral plans can be cancelled at any time. Please contact us at any point to discuss cancelling your plan and we will act promptly in accordance with your wishes.

Depending upon your circumstances, you may be able to cancel for free (for example, if your plan was activated in the last 30 days). If you are charged a fee, the maximum fee you will pay for cancellation is £225.

We will support you to explain the cancellation process and explain any fee which may be due, so please do get in touch with us if you wish to cancel.

Complaints

Please get in touch with us at your earliest opportunity by following our complaints procedure.

If we unable to satisfactorily handle your complaint, you may be eligible to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

We hope to avoid you having to go to the Ombudsman since we aim to address your complaint swiftly and satisfactorily, so please always come to us in the fist instance with any concerns you may have – we are here to help put things right.