A leading provider of funeral plans has highlighted the growth of the market and the impact that this has had upon their own business.
In their annual review, Golden Charter’s Chief Executive Ronnie Wayte drew attention to the change of direction for the company which was required in 2016/17.
Wayte explained that despite retaining its position as market leader, the company felt that their pricing structure for branded plans was uncompetitive given the reductions in price which had occurred across the market. Parallel to this was consumer awareness, and growing use of online comparison sites, something which Wayte highlighted as an opportunity for competitors to ‘attack[ed] perceived shortfalls associated with Golden Charter plans, seeking to suggest that independents could not match corporate service standards.’
Despite the addition of optional full guarantees and a marketing campaign focusing on the benefits of working with independent funeral directors, the company’s Board chose to reduce the prices of the Golden Charter Branded plans.
Brought in line with the Co-operative Funeralcare plan prices, the company had considered the change carefully, with Wayte stating that it was held off until it became clear that the company was ‘losing consumers to competitors deemed to offer better value.’
From this point onwards, Golden Charter state that they have watched the market closely, and have introduced a price matching system which aims to benefit the consumer by maintaining choice and introducing a simplified structure.
In his report, Wayte also acknowledges the frequent coverage of funeral poverty, with worry surrounding the assessment of benefit entitlement. Acknowledging the importance of this issue, Golden Charter engaged with cross-party parliamentary groups, civil servants, regulators as well as shareholders in order to develop and build an effective framework to mitigate future problems.
Similarly, Wayte drew attention to the concerns regarding pre-paid funeral plans and stated that whilst increased market regulation was welcomed, mandatory membership of the Funeral Planning Authority should be required. As well as protecting the market as a whole from unscrupulous organisations, Wayte highlighted the enhanced level of consumer protection that this could introduce.
