Father set to lose £2,800 as funeral firm goes bust leaving thousands in limbo

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A father from Newton Heath fears he is set to lose £2,800 he paid into a funeral plan after the company went bust. Mark McCluney, a 51-year-old property developer and landlord, is preparing to move to the Philippines with his partner and wanted to make sure his 22-year-old son Christopher would not have to handle things alone when he eventually passes away.

He has paid into Safe Hands Funeral Plans, who are believed to have left around 45,000 customers in limbo. Administrators FRP said they were appointed to Safe Hands Funeral Plans, after the company went bust following "a period of severe financial challenge which has left the business unsustainable in its current form." Mark says: "I just wanted to make sure that if anything happened, my son would not be burdened.

He could just pick up the phone and it would be sorted. Safe Hands funeral plans were endorsed by the National federation of funeral directors. "They offered upfront or pay monthly funeral plans for customers which grew with inflation so in five, 10, 30, 40 years the plan will still cover the cost of the funeral for the customers in line with inflation and cost increases. "I received a letter from FRP informing me and thousands of other customers that Safe Hands funeral plans had gone into receivership and FRP are the appointed administrators.

FRP are now carrying out an investigation into the mis-management of the company and where and how customers money has gone. "The problem is funeral plans are un-regulated and open to fraud and abuse from anyone who wants to set up random funeral plans for unsuspecting customers.