HOW TO HIRE · PERSONAL & LIFESTYLE

How to hire a funeral director in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.

Every funeral director must publish a Standardised Price List under the CMA's 2021 Order. Here is how to compare, what to ask, and what the estimate must say.

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  • One score from Google, Trustpilot and Locufy reviews

THE 60-SECOND VERSION

Hiring a funeral director in five steps

  1. Ask for the Standardised Price ListEvery funeral director must display it in the branch and on its website. Get two or three to compare like for like.
  2. Decide attended or unattendedThe list prices both: a funeral with a service mourners attend, and one without (often called a direct cremation).
  3. Get a written, itemised estimateFuneral director's charges and the third-party fees — crematorium or burial, doctor, celebrant — shown separately.
  4. Check any funeral plan is FCA-authorisedFuneral plan providers must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Search the FCA Firm Checker.
  5. Read the deposit and payment termsThe Order requires them to be displayed: deposit, when the balance is due, interest and late-payment charges.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Check before you book

No register applies

No licence or register applies to funeral directors in England, Wales or Northern Ireland; in Scotland the statutory Code of Practice below applies. Outside Scotland nobody vets a funeral director before they trade, so the checks are the price list, the written estimate and the terms of business.

Compare the Standardised Price Lists of two or three funeral directors near you.

Standardised Price List (CMA Order 2021)

The Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021 requires every funeral director to display a Standardised Price List in a fixed format — the total for an attended funeral, each item in it, and the unattended option — plus an Additional Options Price List, local crematorium prices and its terms of business, in the branch and online. The CMA Order also makes funeral directors name the ultimate owner of the business, disclose any interest in a comparison website, and keep a register of material donations or payments it has made to third parties over the last 12 months.

Ask for the list in person, or open the PDF linked from the funeral director's home page. Ask to see the disclosure of interests, which must be displayed with the price lists. gov.uk →

Funeral Director Code of Practice (Scotland)

In Scotland every funeral director must comply with the Funeral Director Code of Practice, made under section 97 of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016. It sets minimum standards for the care of the deceased, and inspectors check funeral directors against it and investigate serious complaints.

Ask the funeral director how they meet the Code; serious complaints can go to the inspector. gov.scot →

FCA authorisation for funeral plans

A prepaid funeral plan provider must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority with permission to enter into funeral plan contracts. Buy from an unauthorised provider and you have no Financial Ombudsman Service to complain to, and no compensation scheme to fall back on should the firm fail.

Search the provider on the FCA Firm Checker and check it can enter into a funeral plan contract. fca.org.uk →

VAT

A funeral director's own services for the burial or cremation are exempt from VAT, and so are the items in a funeral package such as the coffin, the hearse and limousines, and the care of the deceased. Flowers, a headstone, announcements and other items bought on their own are standard-rated. A funeral director with taxable sales of those extras over £90,000 must register and show VAT on them separately.

Ask which items on the estimate carry VAT and why; the funeral itself should show none. gov.uk →

“May I have your Standardised Price List and your Additional Options Price List?”

A good answer: Handed over or pointed to straight away. Every funeral director must have both, and must give a copy on request.

“What does the attended funeral price include, and what can we leave out?”

A good answer: The items on the list, and an honest answer that you may remove elements you do not need with a discount applied.

“Which costs are paid to others — crematorium, cemetery, doctors, celebrant?”

A good answer: A separate line for each third-party fee, with the crematorium's own prices, which the funeral director must display.

“What deposit do you need, and when is the balance due?”

A good answer: A figure and a date, matching the terms of business the funeral director is required to display, including any interest or late-payment charge.

“Is there a funeral plan, and is the provider FCA-authorised?”

A good answer: If a plan was bought, the funeral director checks it with you and confirms what it covers, rather than charging for items it already pays for.

“Who will care for the person who has died, and where?”

A good answer: Where the deceased is kept, who looks after them, and when you can visit. In Scotland the funeral director's answer should reflect the Code of Practice.

“Do you own, or are you owned by, another funeral business?”

A good answer: A plain answer that matches the funeral director's displayed disclosure of interests.

Getting the quote right

  • An itemised written estimate laid out like the Standardised Price List, so it can be compared
  • The funeral director's own charges separate from third-party fees: crematorium or burial, doctors, celebrant or minister, flowers, notices
  • The coffin, the vehicles and the care of the deceased each priced
  • Each item marked exempt or standard-rated, so any VAT appears line by line rather than added at the end
  • The deposit, the date the balance is due, and any interest or late-payment charge
  • What a funeral plan, if there is one, already covers
  • Who actually attends: the funeral director's own staff, or bearers and drivers hired in for the day, and whether each is employed or subcontracted
  • The funeral director's VAT number if they are registered, with VAT shown only against the standard-rated extras

Walk away if

  • No Standardised Price List on display or on request — the Order requires one
  • A single total with no breakdown, or third-party fees mixed into the funeral director's own charges
  • Pressure to choose a package before you have seen the itemised prices
  • A funeral plan offered by a provider that is not on the FCA register
  • Payment terms that differ from the displayed terms of business
  • Refusal to say who owns the business
LOW
£1,628
TYPICAL
£3,828
HIGH
£5,440

What a funeral director costs: £1,628–£5,440 per funeral

Funeral directors price by the funeral, with their own charges and third-party fees shown separately; the Standardised Price List is the way to compare them like for like. Funeral Director price guide →

Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.

KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE

Funeral directors near you, with the badges that matter shown

ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.

Or post the job free and let them come to you.

  1. First contactThe funeral director explains the price lists and what happens next, without pressing for a decision on the first call.
  2. Bringing the deceased into careTransfer to the funeral director's premises, with care to the standard you were told — in Scotland, to the Code of Practice.
  3. Arrangements and estimateAttended or unattended, burial or cremation, the service and the celebrant, all on a written estimate you agree.
  4. The funeralThe day as agreed: vehicles, staff, timings at the crematorium or cemetery, and any extras you chose.
  5. Final accountAn itemised invoice that matches the estimate, with third-party fees shown and the balance due on the date agreed.

Standardised Price List
The fixed-format price list every funeral director must display under the CMA's 2021 Order.
Attended funeral
A funeral with a service that mourners can attend.
Unattended funeral
A cremation with no service and no mourners present, often called a direct cremation.
Third-party fees
Costs paid to others on your behalf: crematorium, cemetery, doctors, celebrant.
Additional Options Price List
The funeral director's itemised prices for everything not on the standard list.
Funeral plan
A prepaid plan; the provider must be authorised by the FCA.

AFTER

When the job is done

Get the final invoice itemisedMatched line by line against the estimate, with every third-party fee shown and receipted.
Keep the paperworkThe estimate, invoice, and the cremation or burial documents; the estate's executor may need them.
Ask about anything that changedAny item added after the estimate should have been agreed with you first; ask in writing if it was not.
Rate the bookingRate the arrangements and the final account once you have checked it. A score under four stars lets you ask the funeral director to put it right before the review goes live.

STEP 1Start with a written complaintMessage the funeral director about the funeral arrangements with photos or dates. The 2015 Consumer Rights Act lets you ask a trader to redo work that lacked reasonable care and skill, or to reduce the price when redoing it will not help.
STEP 2Use the make-it-right step on LocufyRate the funeral director under four stars and you are asked whether to send the problem to them first; we follow it through. Then the review goes up.
STEP 3The regulator or inspector, where there is oneA funeral plan provider is regulated by the FCA, with the Financial Ombudsman Service behind it. In Scotland, serious complaints about a funeral director go to the inspector under the Code of Practice. Elsewhere, Trading Standards is reached through Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 in England and Wales, Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 800 9060, or Consumerline on 0300 123 6262 in Northern Ireland.
STEP 4Money still in disputeA claim against a funeral director for a refund or the cost of putting things right can go to small claims: up to £10,000 on the county court small claims track in England and Wales, up to £5,000 under simple procedure in Scotland, and up to £5,000 in the small claims court in Northern Ireland.

Hiring a funeral director: questions people ask

Not in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, where no register applies. In Scotland they must comply with the statutory Funeral Director Code of Practice, and inspectors check against it.

The CMA's Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021 requires two price lists — the Standardised Price List and the Additional Options list — with nearby crematorium prices and the terms of business, shown in the branch and online, and copies on request.

Search the provider on the FCA Firm Checker and confirm it has permission to enter into funeral plan contracts. An unauthorised provider leaves you without the Financial Ombudsman Service or compensation if it fails.

£1,628 to £5,440 a funeral, typically around £3,828. Attended or unattended, burial or cremation, and the third-party fees make the difference. The funeral director price guide has the breakdown; compare the Standardised Price Lists near you too.

Usually an unattended funeral — a cremation without a service. Every funeral director must show its price on the Standardised Price List, so you can compare it directly.

Write to them, citing the Consumer Rights Act 2015 duty of reasonable care and skill and the estimate you agreed. In Scotland, a serious complaint can go to the inspector; small claims is the last step.

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Funeral directors near you

Funeral directors in LondonFuneral directors in ManchesterFuneral directors in BirminghamFuneral directors in GlasgowFuneral directors in BelfastAll funeral directors on Locufy →

Sources — checked October 2026

  1. CMA — funeral directors and crematorium operators guidance (Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021)
  2. gov.scot — Funeral Director Code of Practice
  3. FCA — funeral plans: check your provider is authorised
  4. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
  5. Citizens Advice — more help with a consumer issue
  6. gov.uk — make a court claim for money: court fees
  7. mygov.scot — make a court claim for money
  8. Burial, cremation and commemoration of the dead (VAT Notice 701/32) — 2.1 Services that are exempt from VAT; 3.1 Funeral packages
  9. GOV.UK — VAT rates
  10. GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register