The cost of living crisis has squeezed household incomes, leading to reduced discretionary spending and impacting pre-need funeral plans, with consumers focusing on immediate financial needs.
The cost of living crisis has presented a challenge for the UK funeral plan market, as consumers focus on more pressing financial matters. Once the financial outlook improves, funeral providers must adapt to consumers’ evolving preferences for personalised ceremonies and eco-friendly arrangements.
The cost of living crisis has squeezed household incomes, leading to reduced discretionary spending and impacting pre-need funeral plans, with consumers focusing on immediate financial needs. As financial conditions improve, opportunities in the funeral planning market should grow. Increased consumer focus on protecting finances could drive interest in prepaid options, as consumers look to lock-in prices to beat future inflation.
Without having open conversations with loved ones, people can pass away without expressing their funeral wishes or making financial provisions, leaving their close ones with unexpected costs. Encouraging openness about funeral planning is crucial, both for market growth and to ease the financial burden on families.
Funerals are shifting, especially among younger generations, as consumers move away from traditional norms towards personalised ceremonies that celebrate individuality. Providers must adapt to these evolving preferences, presenting opportunities for innovation and brand differentiation.
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
This Report examines the UK market for funeral planning, with a particular focus on prepaid funeral plans. To a large extent, the latter compete with over-50s guaranteed acceptance plans, which are covered more extensively in a separate report, Over 50s Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance Market Report.
Prepaid funeral plans enable people to make arrangements and pay for a funeral in advance, either via a one-off upfront payment or by monthly instalments (normally over a set term ranging from six months to 25 or 30 years, depending on the customer’s age). Many providers offer a choice of plans to suit different customer needs and budgets, from fairly basic plans to those catering for more elaborate funerals.
There are two main types of prepaid funeral plan: those where the assets are held in trust (trust-based plans) and those which are backed by insurance (insurance-linked or insurance-backed plans). This difference is unlikely to be known, or perhaps of material interest, to most consumers.
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