Our terms and conditions are available to download and print.
‘Activation’
The day your ‘Purchase Agreement’ has been reviewed and approved by us in order to issue you with a ‘Certificate of Entitlement’. The date of Activation can be found in the Certificate of Entitlement.
‘Additional Products & Services’
Additional products & services recorded during the plan sale, or added to the funeral plan at a later stage. Upon Redemption, these fees will be charged at the prevailing rate at the time of Redemption.
‘Additional Services Form’
Any additional Terms agreed between you and us varying or supplementing the funeral plan that must be recorded as part of the plan sale or added to the funeral plan at a later stage.
‘Certificate of Entitlement’
The certificate provided to you by us confirming that the Covered Individual has a Choice Funeral Plan.
‘Choice’
The brand name of the Funeral Plan product provided by us.
‘Choice Funeral Plan Fees’
The fees for the funeral plan as identified in the Information Pack.
‘Covered Individual’
The individual(s) identified in the Certificate of Entitlement whose funeral is provided for in accordance with these Terms.
‘Fail’
means the appointment of a liquidator, receiver, administrator, special administrator or trustee in bankruptcy, or any equivalent procedure in any relevant jurisdiction in relation to us.
‘Financial Conduct Authority’
means the Financial Conduct Authority or any successor body.
‘FSCS’
means the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or any successor body.
‘Funeral Plan’
The funeral product which you have purchased and is governed by these Terms, which will either be Choice Essentials or Choice Plus (as identified in the Certificate of Entitlement).
‘Information Pack’
means the information provided by us to you following the ‘Activation’ of the funeral plan.
‘Insurer’
Ecclesiastical Life Limited, with company number 00243111 and registered office at Benefact House, 2000 Pioneer Avenue, Gloucester Business Park, Brockworth, Gloucester GL3 4AW, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority with firm reference number 110318, or other insurer we appoint at a later date (we will notify you if this happens).
‘Nominated Funeral Director’
The Funeral Director or funeral home stated in the Certificate of Entitlement that will provide the funeral service in accordance with the Funeral Plan.
‘Nominated Representative’
The individual who may have been identified during the purchase who will be informed about the existence of the funeral plan you have purchased, its features and the procedure to be followed upon the Covered Individual’s death.
‘Personal Requests’
The wishes that you have stipulated on behalf of the Covered Individual which you request to be carried out.
‘Purchase Agreement’
The process you complete online, by telephone, or you sign for when applying for the funeral plan.
‘Redemption’ / ‘Redeemed’
The point at which a death certificate, or Certificate for Burial or Cremation (GR021 in Northern Ireland) has been accepted by us.
‘Third Party Fees’
The fees that need to be paid at or before Redemption. Certain Third Party Fees must be paid in addition to the funeral plan cost in order for the funeral to take place.
These fees will be charged at the prevailing rate at the time of Redemption.
‘Voluntary Contributions’
Financial contributions which you choose to make towards Third Party Fees and/or Additional Products & Services.
‘we’ ‘us’ ‘our’
Means Alternative Planning Company Limited trading as Choice Funeral Plans, with company number 08635411 and registered office at 80 Mount Street, Nottingham, NG1 6HH. We are a Funeral Plan provider that is authorised and regulated by the FCA with firm reference number 965282. Our details can be verified by visiting the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
‘you’ ‘your’
The individual who completes or signs the Purchase Agreement and has bought the funeral plan for the Covered Individual. You must be aged 18 or over and resident in
the UK at the time of purchase.
Alternative Planning Company Limited (‘APCL’) only offer Choice Funeral Plans. We do not provide advice. When you purchase a Choice Funeral Plan it is your responsibility to ensure the funeral plan meets your individual needs. The Terms on which we provide your funeral plan start on Activation and are included in these Terms, the Funeral Plan Summary, Nominated Representative Document, Instalment Payment Form, Certificate of Entitlement, and Information Pack (‘Terms’).
These Terms are between you and us. No other person (except to arrange the funeral as set out in the Redemption section in these Terms) shall have any rights to enforce any of these Terms. Read these Terms carefully. If you do not agree with these Terms you must cancel them in accordance with the section headed ‘Cancellation’ below. We may transfer, assign, sub-contract, charge or otherwise deal in any other manner with all or any of our rights or obligations under this Agreement without your prior written consent. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the Agreement. These Terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in England or in the court of the country that you reside in if you reside in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. These Terms and all communications between us will be in English.
You must nominate a Funeral Director to provide the funeral services from a list which is controlled by us within 20 days of Activation. After this, and within 30 days of Activation, we
may nominate a Funeral Director on your behalf. If you and we cannot agree a Nominated Funeral Director within this 30 day period, you or we may cancel the funeral plan. If we nominate a Funeral Director on your behalf within the 30 day period, you will have 7 days to cancel the funeral plan starting from the day we nominated. In the event that the Nominated Funeral Director is no longer available at any point prior to the funeral plan being Redeemed (for example, it relocates or closes permanently, we deem it unsuitable, or the Covered Individual moves home), we will work with you or appropriate representatives of the Covered Individual in order to nominate an alternative Funeral Director to carry out the funeral plan. If we cannot agree a new Funeral Director, we may give you notice and cancel the funeral plan and you will not be charged a cancellation fee. We will provide you (and your Nominated Representative, unless you did not nominate a representative) with a summary of the funeral plan including the name, address and contact details of the Nominated Funeral Director. Your Nominated Funeral Director is likely to be part of the Funeral Partners Group, APCL are also part of the Funeral Partners Group.
On Redemption, the Nominated Representative should contact us using the contact details in the ‘Contact Us’ section. If we are not contacted after Redemption, we may attempt to contact you or the Nominated Representative and may retain any sums transferred under the funeral plan. The purchase of this funeral plan does not confer on the purchaser nor the Nominated Representative the lawful right to arrange the funeral for the Covered Individual at Redemption and the person(s) who have that right may not choose to enact the funeral plan or carry out any Personal Requests.
All Choice Funeral Plans are non transferable. This means the person covered by this funeral plan (the Covered Individual) cannot be changed. At Redemption, in the event that anything included within Funeral Director Services is unavailable for any reason, we will use reasonable endeavours to provide a reasonable alternative. We will not be liable for
the unavailability of any item that is outside of our control or any change in specification made by you. On Redemption, no refunds for any unused Funeral Director Services will be provided and no refunds are provided if the plan is downgraded at Redemption (for example, to an unattended funeral).
The Certificate of Entitlement identifies if you have chosen the Choice Essentials or Choice Plus Funeral Plan and, in the case where two Covered Individuals are named, whether the
funeral plan applies on the death of the first or second Covered Individual. The Choice Essentials Funeral Plan includes the following services and charges (‘Funeral Director Services’) as standard on Redemption:
The Choice Plus Funeral Plan also includes the following Funeral Director Services:
There may be charges for other items at Redemption that are not included in the funeral plan, which includes, but may not be limited to, the following items that are excluded from the
Choice Essentials and Choice Plus Funeral Plans:
Value Added Tax (‘VAT’) is not currently chargeable upon the provision of certain elements of funeral services. We reserve the right to recover this cost, if it becomes chargeable, from
you or representatives who are arranging the funeral service at Redemption. Other taxes or costs may exist that are not paid through us or imposed by us.
Payments made towards the funeral plan will be used to arrange an insurance policy which exists between us and the Insurer in accordance with the FCA’s rules.
Please contact us to make any changes to Personal Requests, we do not charge for making changes to Personal Requests.
If the funeral plan is no longer right for you, you can cancel your plan (see “Cancellation”) or you may be able to switch to another plan provided by us. New Terms will apply and either
additional payments may be required or you may be eligible for a refund. If paying by instalment, switching is only possible once the plan is fully paid. If you want to switch before your
plan is fully paid, a cancellation fee may apply. At Redemption, he person responsible for arranging the funeral may choose to make amendments at their expense.
You can make Voluntary Contributions towards the costs associated with Third Party Fees and Additional Products & Services, which will be used to arrange insurance with the
Insurer. Third Party Fees and Additional Products & Services will be charged at the prevailing rate at the time of Redemption.
There may be additional costs to pay for Third Party Fees and Additional Products & Services at Redemption. If there are excess Voluntary Contributions once Third Party Fees and
Additional Products & Services have been paid, any excess monies can only be refunded to the person who purchased the funeral plan or to the Covered Individual’s estate.
If you wish to cancel the funeral plan, please contact us. You can always cancel your funeral plan for free within 30 days of Activation, or within 7 days of initially appointing your
Nominated Funeral Director (nomination of the Funeral Director must be within 30 days of Activation). After these timescales, a cancellation fee of £225 will apply. If you are paying by instalments, you can cancel for free within 12 months of Activation. We will repay to you any sums we have received from you in accordance with these Terms within 30 days. In
all instances, you acknowledge that you lose your right to cancel once the funeral plan has been Redeemed. Where you cancel, you will not earn any growth on any payments made,
you withdraw from the funeral plan and these Terms will be terminated.
We will provide you with a statement relating to your funeral plan every three years. You should notify us if you change your correspondence address (which must be within the United
Kingdom) or any other contact details you have provided to us. We will contact you by using the correspondence address you have most recently provided us with written notice of unless our data screening activities suggest you no longer reside at that address. We may use external data screening services to keep your records up to date in order to communicate service messages or marketing messages to you (where we have appropriate permissions). We do not sell your data to third parties.
You must pay the total fees set out in the Purchase Agreement including any Additional Services including the Choice Funeral Plan Fees, Third Party Fees and Additional Products & Services.
If you have a complaint, please contact us using the contact details in the ‘Contact us’ section of these Terms and we will promptly handle your complaint in line with our complaints
procedure, which can be viewed at choiceplan.co.uk/complaints. You (and others) may be able to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service as set out in the Funeral Plan Summary.
When you agree to our Terms, you agree to our privacy practices. We may use your data to inform you about related products and services we provide, unless you ask us not to
which you may do at any time. In the event that you provide us with personal data about an individual(s) other than yourself, you must obtain their freely given consent before doing so. Such consent extends to, but is not limited to, understanding that certain information about the Covered Individual may be provided to the Nominated Representative. We will not be held liable for any failure by you to obtain the necessary consent(s). You must also bring our Privacy Policy to their attention before you provide their personal data to us. We reserve the right to record calls for training and monitoring purposes. Call recordings will be retained in line with our retention policy.
For further details on how we process your personal data and the third parties we may share your data with, please visit choiceplan.co.uk/privacy-policy. Please contact us if you require a copy of our Privacy Policy by another means.
By entering into these Terms you agree that, if we Fail, you give us your prior and informed consent for the transfer of our obligations to another firm that is authorised to provide
funeral plans that is arranged by an insolvency practitioner appointed to us that will result in the funeral plan contract being continued on the same terms as these Terms or where the
transfer is arranged by the FSCS and is on terms corresponding in all material respects (so far as it appears to the FSCS to be reasonable in the circumstances) to these Terms. We do not require the consent of the Covered Individual in respect of the transfers set out in this clause. Please refer to the Funeral Plan Summary in respect of FSCS cover.
Without prejudice to you or the Covered Individual asserting any rights against the Insurer, you irrevocably appoint us, for the duration of these Terms, as your agent for the purposes of asserting any right or interest that you have in the contract of insurance with the Insurer.
This document, which includes the Funeral Plan Instalment Terms and Instalment Payment Form, apply to you when you pay for your Funeral Plan in instalments and form part of the Funeral Plan Terms. This document adopts the definitions used in the Funeral Plan Terms. Read this document and the Funeral Plan Terms carefully.
We may transfer, assign, sub-contract, charge or otherwise deal in any other manner with all or any of our rights or obligations under this Agreement without your prior written consent. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the Agreement.
These Terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in England or in the court of the country that you reside in if you reside in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. These Terms and all communications between us will be in English.
You must pay the total fees set out in the Purchase Agreement Form and Additional Services Forms, including the Choice Funeral Plan Fees, Third Party Fees and Additional Products & Services.
Where you pay by instalments:
If you need a copy of the Funeral Plan terms then please contact the Choice office on 01803 298 243 or email [email protected]