Some people choose to take out over 50s life cover, to cover the cost of their funeral. Over 50s cover provides a fixed amount lump sum on your death. However, you may pay far more in monthly premiums over your lifetime (up to the age of 90 in most cases) than the lump sum paid out on your death. The lump sum that is paid out may also not cover the full cost of the funeral when the time comes. If you miss a number of monthly payments, your over 50s cover could stop and you (or your family) may not get anything back.
Some people choose to put money into a savings account to cover their funeral costs. However this too could end up costing more money in the long run. Recent reports from both SunLife and Royal London showed funeral costs had increased from 2016 to 2017 between 3% and 4.7%*. This is higher than the current rate of inflation and far more than traditional savings accounts have been paying in interest for the past 10 years.
With a Co-op funeral plan, all the services within your chosen plan are fully guaranteed. So you’re buying the funeral at today’s prices, no matter how far in the future the funeral will take place. We even cover the full cost of third party fees on all of our plans, which no other national funeral plan provider in the UK does**. This includes officiant’s and crematorium fees. Your family will also know exactly what you want for your funeral, saving them the anguish of having to make decisions at such a difficult time. Over 50s life cover or savings accounts aren’t able to offer this.
If you want the certainty that the funeral costs will be covered, if they’re included in your Co-op Funeral Plan, they will be guaranteed to be covered.
| Benefits of funeral plan vs other ways of paying for your funeral | Co-op Funeral Plan | Over 50s Cover | Savings Account |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can I pay monthly? | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Does it protect against funeral cost inflation? | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Does it guarantee to pay for all the items you want including in your funeral? | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Does it help the person arranging the funeral with deciding what kind of funeral you want? | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ |
| If I cancel or close the policy/account, will I get my money back? | ✔ (less an cancelation charge. See T&Cs) | ✗ | ✔ |
* Information correct as at 6 October 2017. The Sunlife Cost of Dying Report 2017, released on 13 September 2017 stated that ‘the cost of a basic funeral has risen for the 14th year in a row and now stands at £4,078, an increase of 4.7% in just one year and a huge rise of 112% since we started tracking funeral pricing in 2004’. The Royal London’s National Funeral Cost Index for 2017 stated that ‘2017 sees a return to funeral cost increases… the cost increase of 3%, means that the average funeral in 2017 now costs £3,784 compared to £3,675 in 2016’.
**Our Set Burial Plans do not include the cost of the grave or lair, as in some parts of the country this can be as much as £5,000.
