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On 15th February 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its statement on funeral plan provider applications. One of the FCA's core focuses has always been to support and protect consumers and especially vulnerable customers. The pre-paid funeral plan sector is no different and the FCA aims to regulate this to achieve good outcomes for all consumers.

Firms are expected to:

• introduce high standards in the funeral plans market, and
• require firms to ensure that plans are sold fairly, perform as expected, and
• provide value for money

Funeral plan providers currently have two routes of which to go down in order to continue offering services in the UK. Firstly full authorisation, becoming regulated in their own right, and secondly becoming an Authorised Representative (AR) where the firm will carry on regulated activity under the responsibility of an authorised firm, known as 'the principal'. If you are unsure as to the route you should take, our useful factsheet could help you. If authorisation is your chosen path, we can support you through the process, we have managed over 1,500 successful FCA authorisations and know exactly what the regulator is looking for. Once authorised we can also provide support to help you maintain compliance and balance your objectives with your compliance requirements.

Authorisation vs AR factsheet