I was going to have a funeral and let the kids sort it with a few of my wishes at the end but I’m now thinking of having one of those non funeral ones so I can just be taken straight to the crem with no one there . Can any of you tell me which is best or do you have one arranged . I believe it’s up front payment of about £1500 .
My wife and I took out a pre-paid funeral set-up each with Help the Aged many years ago and then it was around £1.2k each if that is any guiding help. Since then, Help the Aged has merged with some other age related charity type set-ups and is now know as Age UK.
When either of us shuffles off, just one phone call to the nominated funeral director (Dillistone & Wraights) will set the whole thing in motion and the rest is taken care of by Age UK. The only thing the survivor will have to do, is hand over that all important death certificate. Herse and car etc are all arranged as per our specific instructions and having attended two local Age UK pre paid funerals, I know we’ll be in good hands 
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Is there a local funeral director you trust, I ask as I am thinking exactly the same and have emailed the funeral director who did Mom and Dad and a couple of friends funerals fantastically (if you can) their care was exceptional. So have emailed them to ask what they do and what generally options
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Totally agree I arranged a prepaid funeral through Age concern for my Aunt Brenda, the whole process required was exceptional. The one thing it did was to allow her brothers and sisters (my Mom included) to discuss what they thought she would want etc as my Aunt had learning difficulties and would agree with most things whereas they knew her favourite hymns and I literally followed my Nans order of service. The one change they made was to have the reading “The broken chain” which with hindsight was right as My Mom her only remaining sister passed away a week before Brenda.
Excellent treatment.
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Same here but ours cost around £3k each with Age UK. V’s parents had pre-paid funeral plans too, mine didn’t so the costs had to be paid out of their estates.
This is precisely why we decided at least 20yrs ago, maybe longer. We have 4 daughters and we envisaged all sorts or arguing about what Mum or Dad would have liked, so we decided in advance to eliminate any such discussions. We have opted for cremations and just a simple basic coffin so our daughters and grandchildren will not be deigned the chance to say their goodbyes. A simple hurled-into-the-oven type of event will not facilitate any kind of goodbye ceremony, so with this considered, we decided on a small family gathering and then after that they can decide between themselves what they do or where they go after the crematorium.
Oh yes, pre paid is definitely the easiest and most cost effective way to go. We have had everything arranged for years and also enduring powers of attorney over each other (health + fiscal), wills and other such legal documents all kept in the fire proof safe.
I will be reading your replies but I’m staying with my sister in Surrey at the moment and may not be in and out to often but I will follow up on advice .
Sister is going to arrange one too so maybe we could buy one get one half price 
Oooo, thanks for the reminder. We have yet to update ours but haven’t got round to it since we moved.
That could be a possibility. We received a modest discount for taking such a plan out together AND I also received a modest sum for every successful client I recommended to Age UK.
@susan_m one thing I would say if READ and understand what is not included it may be the one thing you want. Something you do not know you want.
I was going to have a simple plan , but decided to think of my Children and how they would feel about it . It didnt go down very well with them …so Ive gone for a Silver Plan with a Big name Company cost almost 4K, rather than a Family owned one that did my Husband , I found the FD to gossipy who did his .
Here the Local Authority invites Tenders from the Funeral Directors to provide a standard funeral service for a year
Yet for some reason the Council cannot/don’t advertise this service, also the successful Funeral Directors can’t/don’t advertise it either
You must ask the council, and only then they’ll provide you with the relevant information.
Like myself, most will think, that can’t be right…. Ask your local authority, as I would had thought all Councils would have to offer the same kind of service
The same standard service with the Funeral Director was almost half the standard charge a few years ago
Wills are very important. They also need to be well written and at the very least read and verified by a professional. Even though Mrs LD is legally qualified, after drafting ours out, we employed the services of someone independent and local from The Institute of Professional Will Writers to check everything and then print them out as well as register them.
We don’t we had our original will done by a solicitor and just update them when needed .
Registration is not a legal requirement in the U.K. .
The main thing is to have a will don’t die intestate it will leave your loved ones all sorts of trouble .
I am going to have a direct cremation. The plan covers a simple coffin, they will take my body straight the crematorium with no funeral service or anybody attending. I’d hate to put my family through a funeral ceremony and want them to remember me happily.
Then they’ll return my ashes and I’ve asked that my children and husband go together to scatter them in my two favourite places in the world, Tintagel in Cornwall and Westminster Bridge in London
The cost is approximately £1460 at today’s prices
I don’t like to think of this a time when I will no longer be here not dying perse but for everything I have failed to do in this life .I am very aware of time running out .
We have a plot already but we may die far away who knows
maree can you tell me about direct cremation, where did you find info and would you recommend them
I can recommend it personally because I haven’t used it yet! But my plan was to leave the money in a savings account and I’ve told the family to use the Co-op direct cremation service
I did use the local Co-op funeral directors for my mum and dads traditional funerals and they were very kind and professional
Here’s a link to their direct cremation service and what they provide. It sounds what I would want
If you want to pay for it in advance the Co-op do that through this company
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I think similar for me. Nothing fancy. In fact I’d ditch the coffin and just put my remains in the cremation pit. The one proviso is that there was body parts that could be useful for others or anything else.
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