46,000 people found out that Safe Hands Plans Ltd had collapsed in 2022, including Margaret and David Fee who paid more than £5,000 for their funeral plans. They are yet to receive any compensation and a new government is currently in place. Consumer group, Fairer Finance is calling for ministers to launch a public inquiry into the company’s collapse and what went wrong.
Margaret and David spent money on pre-paid funeral plans, using David’s pension pot to pay £2,745 each in 2015. Safe Hands Plans Ltd promised the protection of their money, accounting for all aspects of the funerals but the company went into administration seven years later.
Funeral plans are designed to help families pay for a funeral when their loved ones die, but there were questions over the lack of protection if a provider went bust. Since July 2022, providers have required approval to operate from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), offering consumers greater protection.
Gill Marshall, who paid £4,000 for a Safe Hands funeral plan, relied on borrowing money and a bereavement loan to bring her husband home following his death in 2012. Marshall turned to Safe Hands for her own funeral, but she received a letter from the company in September 2022, informing her of the company going into administration.
FRP Advisory, the administrators for Safe Hands, has issued four publicly available progress reports, however, it has not been able to return any money to Safe Hands customers yet. The administrators’ progress documents reveal a series of financial transactions made before the company’s collapse. The documents show that customers are owed an estimated £70.6m, of which £45.1m of investments were made in the Cayman Islands.
Consumer group, Fairer Finance, believes that if the Treasury and the FCA had taken action, the significant loss for planholders could have been avoided. The FCA has said that at the time, it had limited powers as Safe Hands was not regulated. The Serious Fraud Office is investigating Safe Hands’ collapse over alleged fraud
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