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Pre-Paid Funeral Plans

A Golden Charter funeral plan is a safe and simple way to get real peace of mind

A funeral plan is an easy way to arrange the funeral you want in advance. A plan allows you to specify your wishes and pay for the funeral director’s services included in your plan. As customers often tell us, that can bring peace of mind to you and your family. A plan from Golden Charter also includes an allowance towards third party costs. These are essential, non-funeral director services such as the cremation or burial fees, plus the minister or officiant’s fee to perform the service.

At Joseph A. Hey & Son Ltd we work in partnership with Golden Charter to provide you with a safe and reliable way to plan ahead. As one of the UK’s largest funeral plan providers*, Golden Charter has helped 900,000 people make funeral provisions** so we’re completely confident in offering their plans to you.

Everyone has different needs when it comes to funeral planning, so we make sure the plans we offer are as flexible as possible. When you get in touch, we’ll be happy to discuss your funeral requirements and tailor a plan to suit you. Rest assured a plan from Golden Charter is available to all UK residents who are over 18, regardless of age or state of health.

*Based on a Golden Charter analysis and independent research of the funeral plan market size as at
January 2023.

**Correct at March 2023.

A plan to suit your needs

As an independently owned funeral director, we’ll take the time to understand your wishes and tailor a plan to suit you. We can discuss these at our premises or in your home, at a time that is convenient for you. If you’d prefer to discuss this over the phone or via email, we can assist with this too. You can tell us about any preferences you have in mind – the type of funeral you would like to have, hymns, music or any other personal touches – and we’ll make sure your plan takes these into account.

What’s included in a pre-paid funeral plan?

Our funeral director’s services will be covered in your funeral plan, which means our fees will be fixed at today’s prices. These services typically include:

  • Professional services and making arrangements for the funeral
  • Transportation of the deceased from the place of death to our premises, chapel of rest or other suitable location
  • Care of the deceased and preparations for family viewing if requested
  • Advice on the certification and registration of death and related documentation
  • Provision of funeral vehicles
  • Advice on bereavement counselling
  • Coffin or casket requested

Although a pre-paid funeral plan can cover all of the services above, there are some additional third party costs to consider. These are the costs for essential, non-funeral director services required to carry out a cremation or burial which need to be paid at the time of the funeral. These costs are outside our control. Depending on the plan type chosen, a Golden Charter funeral plan can include a contribution towards some third party costs. They may include:

  • Crematorium fee
  • Minister or officiant’s fee
  • Cemetery fee: the opening of a new or existing grave for burial or interment of cremated remains

Other third party costs that may be associated with a funeral include:

  • Purchase of grave or lair
  • Hire of church or other venue
  • Fees or organist or soloist
  • Memorial, such as a headstone, entry in a book of remembrance, or the planting of a tree
  • Catering, floral tributes and newspaper announcements

There will only be more to pay at the time of the funeral if the third party costs exceed the allowance when you buy your plan, or if the costs increase by more than the growth of your plan. Even if prices rise in the future, once your plan is paid for, you’ll have the reassurance of knowing there’ll be nothing more to pay for our services included in the plan – guaranteed.

Payment options to suit you

With a Golden Charter funeral plan, you can pay for your plan in several ways. Spread the cost or make a one-off payment – simply choose the one that’s right for you. We will provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision.

The retail price of your funeral plan is representative of the equivalent cost of a funeral today plus an arrangement fee of £285 which is retained by Golden Charter to help cover the costs of setting up your plan.

Your payments are held within the Golden Charter Trust. With £1.2 billion under management, the Trust is operated by a Board of Trustees, completely independent of Golden Charter. Their role is to hold your payments and ensure that the funeral director services in your plan can be paid for at the time they are required – however far into the future that may be. For more information on how your payments are protected, please visit goldencharter.co.uk/faqs

Looking after you as a customer

As a Golden Charter plan holder, you’ll receive personalised plan documents, which include a summary of your plan, our details, your plan holder certificate and a personal membership card for you to carry in your purse or wallet. You can add a nominated representative to your plan if you wish to do so. Your nominated representative will receive a letter which will provide details of your plan and our details, as your chosen funeral director. They will have no authority to make changes to your plan.

You’ll also receive a statement from Golden Charter every three years which will be sent via your preferred contact method.

As your funeral director, we’ll hold full details of your funeral plan. When the time comes, one phone call is all it takes to activate your plan and get the arrangements underway.

Ready to take the next step? Get in touch today

As well as the comfort of having a plan in place, you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with being able to help save your family from worry and expense in the future. So why not take the next step?

Joseph A.Hey & Son Ltd is an appointed representative of Golden Charter Limited trading as Golden Charter Funeral Plans which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN:965279).

Registered in England No. 02511598 Registered Office: One Fleet Place, London EC4M 7WS.

1. Confirmed by Golden Charter Trust’s audited accounts at 31 March 2022

FAQ

Our plans are available to all UK residents, regardless of age or state of health. If you choose to pay by the instalment payment option then you must be 78 or under when you apply.
We’ll send you a plan documents folder with all the information about your plan, as well as a membership card. If you have opted to have a nominated representative for your plan, they will receive a letter shortly after you have purchased your funeral plan. This will advise that you have put a plan in place and provide details of your appointed funeral director. You will also receive a customer statement which will be sent to you every three years using your preferred method of contact.

If your personal or financial circumstances change, please get in touch if you wish to update us on this.

If you cancel within 30 days we will refund the payment you have made.  For details of cancellation terms after 30 days of receiving our written acceptance, please see our separate Key Features document.
Your plan documents folder contains the contact details for your funeral director. When the time comes your family contacts the funeral director and quotes your plan number. The funeral director will then take care of your funeral arrangements.
If you intend to travel overseas, we recommend that your travel or medical insurance policy includes cover for repatriation costs back to the UK. Your funeral plan covers the cost of transportation of the deceased from the relevant UK airport or port to the funeral director’s premises.
This will depend on the type of payment method you have chosen. Please refer to our separate Key Features document for more information.

You can transfer the benefit of your funeral plan to a nominated family member or friend who dies before you, once the total cost of the plan has been paid. Any change of arrangements following such a transfer (for example, a change of address for the nominated family member or friend leading to increased transportation costs) may mean that we have to appoint a different funeral director. It may also mean that you need to pay additional sums.

Yes, just complete the plan holder’s representative section on the application form, and we’ll arrange for all correspondence to be sent to you.
A plan representative is someone who can take out a plan on the plan holder’s behalf. They will have the authority to make changes to the plan and will receive the plan documents rather than the plan holder. A nominated representative is someone who the plan holder would like to make aware that they have taken out a plan. A nominated representative has no authority to make changes to the plan.
Please let us know you are moving so we can update our records.  You will have the option to move your plan to a different funeral director, if required, and this may incur additional costs.

“Very caring and thoughtful throughout all our communications, Even catered for our elderly family and friends at the graveside. Thank you.”

Janet Dearne, Bradford

“From the first phone call on the day my dad died we we treated with grace and respect. The details were explained to us when Mr Stott came to make all the arrangements with us. We were advised of the options for the service we were not persuaded to do anything ina certain way and the decisions were left to us.”

Jackie Fearnsides, Shipley

“The kindness and compassion shown to us in are time of grief was outstanding. We would recommend using Joseph A. Hey & Son Ltd. to anyone in their time of need.”

Suzan Priestley, Bingley

“Couldn’t have asked for a better service, very friendly, caring and helpful, made you feel at ease all the time. Will recommend to others. Rev. Ian Slater made us feel like he actually knew Brenda, and Edward felt more like a friend than Funeral Director.”

Brian Taylor, Bradford

“It has been 17 years since we have used Joseph heys. I am so glad we decided to use them again we had to do nothing, they dealt with everything. A tradtional family run funeral directors whom give personal qualities from start to finish. Highly recommended and special thanks to Edward Stott.”

Kala Smith, Bradford

“An efficient and compassionate organisation that allowed us to give my friend, Val a dignified yet celebratory final journey.”

Beverley Howard, Bradford

“As fantastic as ever. You have done most of the family over the years and standards have never slipped. The attention to detail was second to none. Thank you to everyone at Heys.”

Immelda Waterhouse, Bradford

“Words can’t explain what a good service use did for my dad john mccrickard my thanks goes to philip for all the help he done for us thanks again.”

Louise McCrickard, Bradford
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