Funeral Plan Terms and conditions
When you take out a funeral plan, you agree to the Terms and Conditions below. These give you certain legal protections - and peace of mind that we'll do what we promise. Please read them carefully before signing the declaration.
When you take out a funeral plan, you agree to the Terms and Conditions below. These give you certain legal protections - and peace of mind that we'll do what we promise. Please read them carefully before signing the declaration.
1. Issuing your Funeral Plan Certificate
The East of England Co-operative Funeral Service (‘the Society’) will issue your Funeral Plan Certificate only after you have paid for it in full. If your Funeral Plan Certificate is lost or destroyed, please tell the Society immediately in writing to the address in point 2 below, we will then issue a duplicate. Your plan certificate will include a breakdown of what is included.
2. Change of address
If you or the Plan Holder’s personal or address details change, please inform the East of England Co-operative Funeral Services in writing within 60 days.
Please advise us by writing to:
The East of England Co-operative Funeral Services
Wherstead Park
The Street
Wherstead
Ipswich
Suffolk IP9 2BJ
3. Funeral Plan monies
All money you pay to the Society towards your chosen Funeral Plan will be deposited with the Royal London Co-operative Insurance Society Limited, which is regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority.
4. If you miss any agreed payment
If you miss a payment you will have 30 days in which to make it. If you pay within this time, your selected Plan will remain in place. If you don’t, we may cancel your Plan and return the money you have already paid towards it, minus a Cancellation Charge. If you haven’t paid enough money into your Plan to cover this Charge, we may ask you to pay the balance. To avoid missing payments, we recommend paying all instalments by Direct Debit.
5. Changes or additions to your Funeral Plan
If you ask the Society to change or add to your Funeral Plan, we will charge for the new arrangements at the prices in force at the time of your request. Any changes become binding on the Society only when we accept them in writing and any additional fees are paid for.
No changes to the services in a Funeral Plan can be made following the death of the Plan Holder, either before or during the arrangement of their funeral. If the Plan Holder’s Representative chooses not to use any of the services included in the Plan, then these are non-refundable. If the Plan Holder’s Representative chooses to arrange additional services which are not included in the Plan, then these will need to be paid for by the Representative when the funeral is arranged at the current price.
6. Funerals in Great Britain and Abroad
Your Funeral Plan is valid only for funerals conducted on the mainland of Great Britain. If death takes place or you require a funeral outside Great Britain, the we reserve the right to either refund the cost of your Funeral Plan without further obligation, or carry out the funeral for an additional fee.
Our commitment to transport the deceased any distance within mainland Great Britain is based on the assumption that death takes place at their address, as provided on this application form.
7. Availability
If certain arrangements, products or services – such as coffin type, memorial materials or design, location of ceremony, or choice of personnel – become unavailable, we may have to provide reasonable alternative products, services or locations.
8. Changed circumstances
We make every effort to provide the arrangements you choose, but changes in your circumstances may affect the availability of some arrangements. If this happens, we may need to instruct another Co-operative Funeral Service to conduct those arrangements on our behalf.
9. Cancellation period
After signing the declaration below, you have 30 days in which to cancel your plan with no further obligation. If you wish to cancel the plan after this period, please let the Society know in writing and we will repay all money you have paid towards your Funeral Plan – minus an administration fee of £200.
10. Complaints procedure
If you have any complaints, please talk to us first and we will do what we can to resolve matters. If you prefer you can write to us at:
The East of England Co-operative Funeral Services
Wherstead Park
The Street
Wherstead
Ipswich
Suffolk IP9 2BJ
If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction after contacting the Society, you have the right to take it to the Funeral Planning Authority.
11. Redeeming your Funeral Plan
On death of the person for whom the plan is for, you (or those legally entitled to represent the deceased) must present the Funeral Plan Certificate to the Society when confirming the funeral arrangements. We are not obliged to provide funeral arrangements until the plan is paid in full and a Funeral Plan Certificate has been issued.
12. Part payment of your Funeral Plan
If on death, the full cost of the Funeral Plan has not been paid, you (or those legally entitled to represent the deceased) may make the outstanding payment as a lump sum. If this is done, a Funeral Plan Certificate will be issued and will be accepted as if full payment had been made at the time of death. Alternatively you may cancel the plan and all monies paid will be refunded subject to a £200 administration fee.
13. Unclaimed money and unredeemed plans
You or your named Representative are responsible for redeeming your chosen Funeral Plan. If it has not been redeemed by you or the Plan Holder’s 110th birthday, or we have been told that you or the plan holder have died, we may write to the last held address to find out whether you intend to redeem the plan. If we do not hear back from you within 56 days, we have the right to cancel the plan and may keep any payments made.
14. General
These Terms and Conditions and your Funeral Plan Application Form together form the entire agreement between you and the Society regarding your Funeral Plan and the funeral arrangements to which they refer. If any part of that agreement proves ineffective the remainder shall not be prejudiced. This agreement shall be governed by English law.
Declaration
I hereby apply for an East of England Co-operative Funeral Plan to be issued in respect of the funeral arrangements I have chosen. I understand the Funeral Plan Certificate will be issued only when I have paid the full cost of my chosen Plan, which will be subject to the Terms and Conditions above.
Data Protection Act
The information on this application will be held by East of England Co-operative Society Limited in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act for the purpose of administration, business analysis and marketing. If you would prefer not to receive marketing information from the East of England Co-operative please email customersupport@eastofengland.coop.
We will pass details to Royal London Group as joint data controller to enable them to effectively manage the funds on behalf of the person for whom the funeral is being arranged. Royal London Group will take it that the consent of the person for whom the plan has been purchased has been obtained by the applicant.