Bespoke service and personalisation

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Local knowledge and expertise

Bespoke service and personalisation

Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Local knowledge and expertise

About Co-op Funeral Plans Limited

Co-op Funeralcare is the UK’s leading funeral provider for funerals and pre-paid plans. Co-op Funeral Plans Limited provides our Co-op funeral plans and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

A funeral plan is the easy way to arrange and pay for your funeral in advance, giving you comfort in knowing that costs are covered. It lets you choose how you want to be remembered which can remove any uncertainty your loved ones may have about your final wishes.

Brown flowers
Photo by Flora Westbrook from Pexels

Complaints data

Our complaints data details the number of complaints received and how they were dealt with. The document accessed by the link below covers a 12 month period from 1 January to 31 December 2024.

Autumnal flowers - Photo by Irina Iriser from Pexels

Solvency report

The majority of Co-op funeral plans are backed by individual Whole of Life insurance policies, but Co-op Funeral Plans Limited does hold certain separate legacy trust arrangements that contain a small proportion (less than 3%) of our total funeral plans. These are all historical arrangements and largely consist of plans sold before 2002. The FCA regulations require us to undertake regular actuarial valuations of these trusts to compare the assets against actuarial liabilities. The document accessed by the link below sets out the results of the most recent valuation exercise undertaken at 30 September 2024. In aggregate, the 14 legacy trusts have a surplus of £3.3 million (assets are 13% higher than liabilities) but, within this, two trusts were in deficit and Co-op Funeral Plans has subsequently made cash payments totalling £14,000 to clear these deficits and return the two trusts to 100% funding.

Find out more about funeral plan regulation

Read more about the FCA's regulation of the funeral planning market.

Find out more about regulation

Our Board is made up of 4 non-executive directors and one executive director.

Joanne Hindle - Board Chair

Joanne joined the Board as Chair on 1 May 2022.

Skills and experience

Joanne has extensive experience of UK regulated businesses having worked in the financial services sector for over 30 years.

Joanne originally trained as a lawyer specialising in commercial law. Her Executive career included roles as Corporate Services Director at Unum Limited and Director of Pensions Development at NatWest Life.

Joanne is currently Chair of Stafford Railway Building Society and a Non-Executive Director of Bank of London and Middle East where she also chairs the Remuneration and Nomination Committee. Her previous Non-Executive roles include Chair of the Holmesdale Building Society and Chair of Shepherds Friendly Society.

Gill Stewart – MD and Executive Director

Gill is an Executive Director and became MD of Co-op Funeralcare in September 2022, having previously held the position of Chief Operating Officer.

Skills and Experience

Gill has extensive retail experience with a proven track record in high street, digital and multi-channel operations. Prior to joining the Co-op, Gill’s roles included CEO at Sofa Workshop, various senior operational roles for the Dixons Carphone group, Regional Manager for Marks & Spencer and senior managerial roles at Debenhams. Gill has a strong track record of delivering business transformational programmes, as well as step changes in profitability, customer service and operational standards within PLC and private equity businesses.

Gary Dewin - Non-Executive Director

Gary joined the Board on 6 June 2022.

Skills and experience

Gary has worked at the Co-op for nearly 20 years, most recently as People Director where he has responsibilities for Reward, Pensions, Employee Relations & Wellbeing. Gary also holds a number of subsidiary directorships at the Co-op.

Gary is currently Chair of the Governors for The Co-operative Academy of Leeds.

Ian Cordwell - Independent Non-Executive Director & Chair of the Board Risk, Audit and Compliance Committee

Ian joined the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 6 June 2022.

Skills and experience

Ian has over 30 years of experience of UK regulated businesses having spent his Executive career within the retail financial services sector covering life & pensions, general insurance and retail credit. Ian’s previous roles included Finance Director and subsequently Chief Investment Officer at Police Mutual and numerous c-suite roles at Liverpool Victoria.

Ian is currently a Non-Executive Director at Redmayne Bentley where he chairs their Audit Committee and he is also Chair of the Audit Committee at NPA Insurance Limited. Ian was previously a Non-Executive at Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust.

Peter Frost – Independent Non-Executive Director

Peter joined the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 24 May 2023.

Skills and experience

Peter has over 30 years extensive experience within the financial services sector with a track record of leading scale teams delivering industry recognised levels of customer service and colleague engagement.

Peter’s executive career has included serving as Operations Director of UK Retail Operations at Barclays Bank and more recently at Coventry Building Society as Chief Operating Officer and subsequently as Chief Customer Officer where he was also an Executive Director.

Since retiring from full time employment in 2023 Peter has become a Non-Executive Director at Birmingham Bank and also a Trustee at Coventry Citizens Advice. He also undertakes coaching/advisory work.