Funeral Plan Key Features Summary

About this Key Features Summary

This document is intended to provide you with a summary of the key features and benefits of the Simplicity Cremations Prepaid Funeral Plan to allow you to assess whether it meets your requirements.

Please refer to the Plan literature and Terms & Conditions that accompany this document for full details on the Plan.

What is the Simplicity Cremations Prepaid Funeral Plan?

Our Plans let you pay for certain costs in advance and includes a direct cremation.

Who are Simplicity Cremations?

Simplicity Cremations are a low cost funeral provider that actually owns all the facilities necessary across mainland Great Britain to be able to take care of the deceased throughout the whole cremation process.

Simplicity Cremations is a trading style of Dignity Funerals Limited which is part of Dignity Plc. Our plans are provided by Dignity Pre Arrangement Limited.

Who are Dignity Pre Arrangement Limited?

Dignity Pre Arrangement Limited are wholly owned by and part of Dignity Plc. Dignity has helped over 910,000 people plan for their funeral in advance and is one of the UK’s largest operators of Funeral Directors and Crematoria.

Dignity Pre Arrangement Limited is regulated by the Funeral Planning Authority.

 

Who is the Simplicity Cremations Prepaid Funeral Plan for?

You can have a Simplicity Cremations Prepaid Funeral Plan if the person who the funeral is for is aged 50 or over and the cremation is to take place in mainland Great Britain.

What will the Simplicity Cremations Prepaid Funeral Plan provide?

The Simplicity Cremations Prepaid Funeral Plan will provide the guaranteed services included in the Plan through the Dignity funeral network. Provided that the Plan is paid for in full there will be nothing further to pay for the guaranteed services covered by the Plan.

All Plans guarantee to cover the following services:

• Guidance by our professional telephone team 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• Our local team to meet with you to complete and sign the necessary paperwork for the cremation to proceed
• Transportation of the deceased within Great Britain in a specialist funeral vehicle
• Bringing the deceased into our own mortuary facilities
• A practical and simple coffin
• Cremation fee
• Return of ashes or option to have them scattered in our gardens of remembrance

 

What won’t the Simplicity Cremations Prepaid Funeral Plan provide?

It does not include any kind of service, procession or the services of a minister or celebrant. Other items listed below are also not included:

• Embalming
• The cost of special requests such as memorials, flowers, catering, newspaper obituaries
• The cost of removal of mechanisms such as pacemakers (which must be removed before a cremation)
• Any additional charges that are passed to us due to changes in regulations, tax, laws or generally accepted practice
• The cost of repatriation from outside mainland Great Britain.
• Any Doctor’s fees & Coroner’s fees.

Other Plan limitations include:

• If the Plan is paid for by instalments and the cremation funeral is required before the final payment has been paid, your Executor would have to pay the outstanding balance before the funeral takes place.
• Any taxes. Value Added Tax is not currently charged on a funeral service. However, if this or any other tax becomes chargeable on a funeral service or part of it, your Personal Representative must pay the tax at the time of the funeral.

What are the prices of the Plans?

Single Payment	12 Monthly Instalments	24 Monthly Instalments	60 Monthly Instalments	120 Monthly Instalments
Simplicity Lily £1,495	£124.58 per month (Total £1,495.00)	£65.92 per month (Total £1,582.31)	£28.75 per month (Total £1,752.52)	£16.51 per month (Total £1,981.80)
Simplicity Magnolia £1,795	£149.58 per month (Total £1,795.00)	£79.15 per month (Total £1,899.83)	£34.52 per month (Total £2,071.78)	£19.82 per month (Total £2,379.48)
Simplicity Orchid £2,295	£191.25 per month (Total £2,295.00)	£101.20 per month (Total 2,249.03)	£44.14 per month (Total £2,648.88)	£25.35 per month (Total £3,042.29)

Prices valid at 01/10/2019. Prices are subject to review by Simplicity Cremations. If at the point of application the Plan price has changed for any reason, we will advise you of this before we set up your plan and there will be no obligation for you to continue.

Alternative fixed instalment periods are available provided that all payments over any instalment term longer than 12 months are completed by the 80th birthday of the eldest person named on the plan and the instalment term does not exceed the maximum term available. Plans purchased over a period greater than 12 months will incur an additional fee.

How can I pay?

Payment methods include Credit or Debit Card, Cheque and Direct Debit. You can pay for your plan online, over the telephone by speaking with one of our advisors or, by enclosing payment with your paper application form.

How is the money I pay protected?

The money that you pay for your Plan is paid directly into the National Funeral Trust. The National Funeral Trust is completely separate and legally independent from Simplicity Cremations.

• The Trust is run by Managing Trustees, the majority of whom are independent of Simplicity Cremations
• PricewaterhouseCoopers conduct an annual actuarial valuation of the Trust Fund, which determines if there is enough money in the Trust Fund for Simplicity Cremations to meet its liabilities and promises to Planholders
• The appointed auditors conduct annual audits of the Trust’s accounts
• The Trust adheres to the rules of the Funeral Planning Authority, who receive copies of the Trust’s accounts and valuations and other information it requests

What happens to the money in the Trust Fund?

All the money you pay for the Plan goes straight into the Trust Fund’s bank account. From the money held in the Trust:

• Dignity Pre Arrangement Limited is paid an allowance for the marketing, administration and lifetime customer management of the Plan
• There are annual costs for Trust management services, audits, valuations and other scheme expenses
• An amount from each Plan is retained in the Trust to help the Trust maintain a surplus so it can better withstand unexpected rises in funeral costs or better cope with poor investment returns
• The remaining balance is available to pay Simplicity Cremations, after the funeral has taken place, who agrees to provide all the guaranteed services for this sum

We publish a Report on the National Funeral Trust annually and it is available upon request.

What happens if there is not enough in the Trust to pay for the funeral?

In the unlikely event that the Trust does not have enough money to cover the future cost of funeral services promised
to Planholders, Simplicity Cremations would still honour the guarantees made to Planholders. Simplicity Cremations is
a trading style of Dignity Funerals who own a nationwide network of Funeral Directors and crematoriums and even in
extreme circumstances should still be able to meet the promises made to Planholders.

What happens if Simplicity Cremations goes out of business?

The money for your cremation funeral would still be protected because it is legally separate from Simplicity Cremations. In the unlikely event that we were to go out of business it may however mean that we would be unable to provide the cremation funeral we had promised to provide. If this happened the Managing Trustees of the Trust would work with the remaining Nominated Funeral Directors, and where necessary seek to appoint new Nominated Funeral Directors, to continue to provide services to Planholders. We are a registered provider with the Funeral Planning Authority and in this scenario other Registered Providers would co-operate in the delivery of the Authority’s “Pledge to Customers” by which the other Registered Providers will examine the ways in which they might assist in delivering the funerals of customers of the insolvent Registered Provider.

What will I be sent after I apply for a Plan?

Once your Application has been received, your Plan will be set up within 14 days and you will be sent your Planholder pack. This will contain confirmation of the Plan you have purchased, the amount you have paid, what is covered and how to claim. It will also contain a pack to be given to your Executor.

What happens if I move home?

You must inform us so we can update our records. There is no charge for this, as your Plan is portable, and all the Plan guarantees will still be honoured.

How to claim

When the person who the Plan is for passes away the Executor should telephone Simplicity Cremations direct at any time 24 hours a day on 0800 484 0531

What happens if my family or representative doesn’t use the Plan?

If the Plan is not found until after the Planholder’s funeral is arranged, or if your Next of Kin or Executor chooses not to use the Plan, they can cancel the Plan and receive a refund of the original amount paid for the Plan less the £95 cancellation fee.