Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will take steps to help ensure that customers of Safe Hands funeral service who have ceased trading (a) will be reimbursed in full for the money already invested for funeral cover and (b) avoid early cancellation fees associated with recouping their money; and if he will make a statement.

Safe Hands Funeral Plans has recently gone into administration, and until the insolvency process is complete it will not be possible for customers to be reimbursed any of the money held.

I am aware that the current situation will be distressing for customers of Safe Hands and can assure you that the Treasury continues to monitor the implementation of regulation in this sector closely.

I welcome the commitment from Dignity to provide funerals to Safe Hands’ customers for two weeks.

It is a regrettable fact that bringing a previously unregulated sector into regulation – whatever form that may take – creates a possibility that some providers are not able to meet the threshold for authorisation.

Where a provider is unable to obtain FCA authorisation because of underlying issues, it is important to understand that this is not an issue created by bringing the sector into regulation. Rather, bringing the sector into regulation exposes these unsustainable business models and prevents these problems from getting worse and impacting more consumers.

The FCA’s guidance is clear that providers who are not seeking or not able to obtain authorisation should either transfer their existing plans to a provider which is seeking authorisation, or wind down in an orderly way before regulation starts.