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Why Choose A Funeral Plan?

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 our 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.

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.

Providing Your Family with Financial Peace of Mind

It goes without saying that thinking about your own mortality can be uncomfortable. Nevertheless, taking a pragmatic approach can go a long way toward ensuring not only that your funeral service is carried out in line with your wishes, but also that your family is not unnecessarily burdened with the costs involved with the funeral. A funeral plan is a promise to deliver a funeral in the future at today’s prices.

Funeral Costs in the UK are Rising Every Year

According to the 2023 SunLife cost of dying report the average cost of a funeral in 2004 was £1,920, today it is over £9,000. Golden charter funeral plans offer an easy way to pay for your funeral directors service at a cost that is fixed at current prices. *SunLife cost of dying report 2023.

The cost of dying is the total cost of a funeral – including professional fees, the funeral service, and optional extras like the party or wake.

The average cost of dying is £9,200 – up 3.8% since 2021 (£8,864).

But the average cost of a basic funeral has gone down. At £3,953, it’s down 2.5% since 2021 (£4,056).

The overall cost of a basic funeral has dropped, but the most afordable type of funeral – direct cremation – has dropped the most to £1,511 (-8.2% since 2021).

At £4,794 (-2.7%), a burial is still the most expensive option. And a cremation costs £3,673 (-2.4%) on average.

Professional fees – While last year saw a fall in the cost of professional fees, this year saw them rise the most. At £2,578, they’ve gone up 10.9% since 2021, and they now make up 28% of the total cost of dying.

Send-off costs – send-off is the added optional extras that can make a funeral more personal to the deceased and their loved ones, like the catering, memorial, wake and flowers.

Like the professional fees, send-off costs fell last year but have since risen – they now stand at £2,669 (+7.4%). This is probably because organising a farewell  in 2021 was more difficult – if not impossible.

2022 saw no change in the proportion of funeral types being held. 57% were cremations, 25% were burials, and 18% were direct cremations.

Pre-Paid Funeral Plans FAQs

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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