This content has been reviewed for accuracy by Kelly Gray, Compliance Manager at Memoria Direct Cremation.
When you buy a Memoria Direct Cremation plan, your money is placed into an FCA regulated insurance policy held in your name. It is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the policy is only paid out when it is needed.
This page explains the protections in place to keep your funeral plan money safe – including what the FSCS and FCA are, how they work together, and what would happen in the unlikely event that a funeral plan provider or an insurance firm could not meet its obligations.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is the UK’s statutory compensation scheme for customers of authorised financial services firms. If an authorised firm fails and cannot meet its obligations, the FSCS can step in to protect eligible customers.
For funeral plans, the FSCS provides protection of up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm. This protection has been in place since 29 July 2022, when the Financial Conduct Authority began regulating the sale of prepaid funeral plans.
In plain terms: the FSCS is a safety net. If the insurer holding your funeral plan funds or a funeral plan provider were to fail, the FSCS could step in to help – either by arranging a replacement plan with another provider, arranging a new insurance policy, or by paying compensation.
This is one of the most common concerns people have when considering a funeral plan. Here is how the protections work in practice.
When you take out a Memoria Direct Cremation plan, the money used to purchase your plan is held in an insurance policy in your name – not in the name of Memoria Direct Cremation. directly. As the funds sit with an authorised insurer, in your name, the funds are protected even if Memoria Direct Cremation were to cease trading.
If we are unable to meet our liabilities, you or the covered individual (if the funeral plan is not for you) may be entitled to compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. First, we would try to find replacement cover for the funeral plan on a like-for-like contract with another regulated provider. If this is not possible the FSCS will protect plan holders and will refund plan holders the cost of a funeral plan at that time.
Further information about the limits applicable to the different product types is available from the FSCS at fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/products
Memoria Direct Cremation will work with the FSCS to try and find a replacement insurance firm.
If this is not possible the FSCS will protect plan holders and will refund plan holders the cost of a funeral plan at that time. If the insurer goes out of business, the FSCS aims to:
Protection applies for up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm. Given that funeral plan values are typically well below this threshold, most plan holders would be fully covered.
The key reassurance: Your funeral plan money does not sit in Memoria Direct Cremation’s business accounts. It is ring-fenced in an insurance policy and protected by the FSCS.
Memoria Direct Cremation is a trading name of Memoria Funeral Plans Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 965287).
Here is a summary of the protections that come with every Memoria Direct Cremation plan:
Independently rated: Memoria Direct Cremation holds a 4.9-star rating based on independent customer reviews on Trustpilot and a 5-star Fairer Finance rating for its Direct Cremation Plan.
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