Can your UK funeral home website still advertise funeral plans in 2026?

What changed on 29 July 2022?

Before mid-2022, the pre-paid funeral plan market was overseen by the voluntary Funeral Planning Authority. On 29 July 2022 the FCA took over as the statutory regulator. From that date, any provider that is not FCA-authorised commits a criminal offence if it sells or administers a funeral plan contract, plan holders with authorised providers gained access to Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection, complaints can be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and a ban on cold calls about funeral plans applies. In short, a pre-paid plan is now treated as a regulated financial product, not just a funeral service bought in advance.

Why does this reach funeral directors, not just providers?

Many independents do not run their own plan; they sell or recommend a provider's plan to local families. The FCA is explicit that intermediaries are covered. Its guidance states that if you are involved in selling pre-paid funeral plans, including funeral directors, will writers and operators of lead-generation websites, you must be directly authorised by the FCA or be an appointed representative. The regulated activities include selling plans, advising customers on plan contracts, arranging plans, and marketing or promoting them.

If you are an appointed representative, you do not apply to the FCA yourself; your principal, the authorised provider, notifies the FCA of your appointment and is responsible for your conduct. The FCA says the principal is responsible for the conduct of each AR it has appointed to sell, market or promote pre-paid funeral plans on its behalf. That responsibility extends to what you say about plans on your website.

Is a funeral plans page on my website a financial promotion?

Treat it as one by default. Communicating a financial promotion in relation to a funeral plan contract is itself a regulated activity. A web page that invites a family to buy, enquire about, or be referred for a pre-paid plan is an invitation or inducement to engage in funeral plan activity, which is the textbook definition of a financial promotion. The format does not matter: a dedicated plans page, a homepage banner, a downloadable brochure, a 'pre-pay and protect your family' call-to-action, or a contact form titled 'Request a funeral plan quote' can all count.

Because the principal is on the hook for promotions made on its behalf, AR firms normally cannot simply write their own plan copy. The practical reality is that plan wording, claims and calls-to-action usually need to come from, or be signed off by, the authorised provider before they go live. That has a direct consequence for a website rebuild: the plans section is rarely free text you can edit at will.

What should you check before your new site goes live?

• Status: are you directly FCA-authorised, an appointed representative of an authorised provider, or neither? Confirm it in writing, do not assume.
• Permission scope: if you are an AR, exactly which activities does your principal allow, selling, arranging, advising, or only introducing?
• Approved wording: has your provider supplied or signed off the plan copy, claims, prices and calls-to-action that will appear on the site?
• Risk and FSCS lines: are required statements, such as FSCS protection and any risk warnings your principal mandates, present and current?
• No cold-call prompts: nothing on the site should encourage or imply unsolicited calls, given the funeral-plan cold-call ban.
• Clear separation: families should not confuse a regulated pre-paid plan with your at-need funeral services or your CMA price lists.
• Update path: when your provider changes wording or you change providers, how quickly can the plans page be corrected?

What if you are not authorised or an AR?

Then your website should not market, promote, sell, advise on or arrange funeral plans, and you should take care that even an 'enquire about plans' route is not effectively arranging or introducing without permission. Plenty of strong, compliant funeral director websites simply do not sell plans at all and focus on at-need services, the CMA-required price information, branch trust and clear contact. If you want to offer plans later, the route is to become an AR of an authorised provider or seek direct authorisation first, then add the page. If you are unsure whether something you already publish counts as a promotion, the FCA register and your provider are the right places to check before, not after, you publish.

How does this sit alongside the CMA price rules?

They are separate obligations and both can apply to the same website. The CMA Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021 governs how you display prices for your at-need funeral services, the Standardised Price List, Additional Options Price List and Disclosure of Interests, one click from the homepage. The FCA regime governs pre-paid funeral plans as financial products. A compliant site keeps the two clearly distinct: at-need price transparency under the CMA, and any plan promotion only where you are permitted under the FCA. Mixing them up, for example burying plan promotion inside the price list, helps neither families nor compliance.

How LESTO handles this for UK funeral directors

LESTO builds done-for-you websites for local businesses that want a clear, current site without running a website project. The first draft is free and arrives in 24 hours. If it fits, the website is £99/month ex VAT, with no setup fee, monthly cancellation, and changes handled by WhatsApp or email.

For a funeral home, that model suits the plans question well. If you are authorised or an AR, your provider's approved plan wording can be placed and updated quickly by sending one message the moment the provider changes it, instead of waiting weeks for a developer. If you are not, the site can be built cleanly around at-need services and the CMA price information, with the plans section left off until your status is confirmed. LESTO builds the site; you and your plan provider remain responsible for the accuracy and FCA compliance of any funeral-plan content.

The takeaway

A pre-paid funeral plan is now a regulated financial product, and a website that promotes one is making a financial promotion. Before your new funeral home site goes live, confirm whether you are FCA-authorised, an appointed representative, or neither, use only plan wording your provider has approved, and keep the FCA plan question separate from your CMA price lists. Get that right and your website can do its real job, earning a local family's trust, without quietly creating a compliance problem.