Can you cancel a prepaid funeral plan? Usually yes. Since 29 July 2022 the FCA's rules have given a plan buyer a cooling-off period of at least 30 days to cancel without giving a reason and get their money back; after that, what comes back depends on the provider's terms and the fee it charges.

If you are arranging a funeral now, the person who died may have left a plan, but you may also have other help. Someone on certain benefits who is arranging a funeral in England, Wales or Northern Ireland may qualify for GOV.UK's Funeral Expenses Payment, although if the person who died held a pre-paid plan, that help stops at £120 for items the plan leaves out. In Scotland, the equivalent is the Funeral Support Payment. GOV.UK also lists the person's estate among the ways a funeral can be paid for.

Should you want to go through a plan you hold, or the alternatives, leave your number in the quote box here and a broker will ring when it suits you. It costs nothing.

What does the FCA let you do if you change your mind about a funeral plan?

Every provider has to match the free cancellation right in FPCOB 13.2.1R, part of the FCA Handbook's funeral plans sourcebook. You can walk away with no reason given and nothing to pay for doing so, for whichever of these runs longest:

  • 30 days;
  • 7 days from being told which funeral services provider has been appointed;
  • on an instalment plan, the moratorium period (explained below).

The seven days only make a difference when the appointment comes late. The FCA's July 2021 policy statement, PS21/8, puts it this way: "If the firm appoints the funeral services provider 25 days after the plan is sold, they will need to give the customer 7 days from that point to cancel their plan without cost."

Your 30 days may begin after the day you paid. They count from when you are told the contract is concluded or, if later, from when the terms and the other information required before a sale reach you. Give notice before the period ends; the firm must accept it by the same route you used to buy, and a letter counts if you post it in time. Your money then has to come back "without any undue delay", and within 30 days of the firm receiving your notice.

Can you cash in a funeral plan after the cooling-off period?

You can often still cancel, but outside those free periods PS21/8 makes clear the rules do not require your payments back in full, and a provider may charge for cancelling. That fee should reflect "the costs the firm has incurred in providing the plan and any administrative costs of the cancellation", which "can include the cost of any unrecoverable insurance premiums paid"; nor do firms have to hand over any investment returns they have made.

So "cashing in" usually means getting back what you paid less a fee, not the plan's current value or the cost of a funeral today. Two rules limit the fee. The Handbook's fee rule requires a fee, other than an instalment payment fee or distribution charge, to be "based upon a reasonable reflection of the costs incurred by the firm, in providing the service to which the fee relates, and not with a view to profit". FPCOB 6.3.2 requires the firm to tell you a fee's amount before you become liable for it or before the contract is made, whichever is earlier, so the figure should already be in your paperwork.

The rules set no number, so two examples show the spread. These are the providers' own published terms on the dates given; your plan's documents decide what applies to you.

  • Dignity (plans page, read 21 October 2026): cancel within 30 days of taking the plan out and all of it is repaid; cancel later and Dignity keeps £249 and returns the rest.
  • Co-op Funeralcare's plans page (archived 7 October 2026) says you can cancel "at any time by calling us or filling in our online plan cancellation form". If you pay in full, or monthly over 6 or 12 months, it refunds in full within 30 days of purchase and afterwards deducts a £125 cancellation fee.

Check, too, when your 30 days start: Co-op's page counts from purchase, whereas the FCA's rule above can start the clock later. Our Golden Charter page and our Dignity page set out those firms' own terms, and our plan comparison lines up what providers say on cancelling.

One limit applies to everybody: the right to cancel lapses as soon as anyone asks to redeem the plan, or once the funeral has taken place. After the plan has been used there is nothing to cancel.

Can you cancel a funeral plan you are paying for by instalments?

Yes, but instalment plans have an extra period built in. FPCOB 7.2 caps this "moratorium period" at 24 months from the date the contract was made, and the FCA's guidance lets a provider agree a shorter one. While it runs, the free cancellation right still applies. PS21/8 gives the reason: a full refund is required where a customer cancels, or dies, during the moratorium period, "as the consumer has not received any benefit from the plan at this point".

Providers choose their own length. Co-op's archived plans page says that if you pay by monthly instalments and cancel within 12 months of purchase you receive a full refund including any deposit, and after 12 months the £125 fee comes off.

If the person the plan covers dies during the moratorium for a reason other than an accident, the FCA counts that as a cancellation, unless it was agreed with the firm that someone may pay what is outstanding and use the plan. Every instalment then comes back in full: to whoever bought the plan, or to their estate if they were also the person it covered.

Stopping payments is different from cancelling. For instalment plans taken out on or after 29 July 2022, FPCOB 2.3 forbids "a fee on the customer for incurring or correcting the payment shortfall". After two missed payments in a row the firm must send you a statement on paper or another lasting medium, and you then have 10 business days from it to catch up without penalty. The firm may cancel for arrears only once you have a shortfall of at least two consecutive payments and have not settled it as that statement sets out. Co-op's FAQ (archived 7 October 2026) says it can cancel after three missed instalments in a row, keeping its £125 fee if that happens after 12 months.

Instalment terms differ in what is refunded and when. If you are weighing one, ask the broker who phones after your enquiry to go through cancelling and early death before you sign; there is no charge.

Cancelling a funeral plan on behalf of someone who has died or cannot decide for themselves

After a death, you are usually not cancelling but redeeming: the person arranging the funeral contacts the provider. The FCA's redemption rule requires a provider to "not unreasonably reject a request to redeem a funeral plan (including by cancelling a funeral plan contract)" and to give "reasonable guidance and appropriate information to help a customer or a nominated representative to make arrangements". The cancellation right is gone once redemption has been requested.

The exception is an instalment plan that was not fully paid when the person died. Co-op's archived plans page says that if the death was within 12 months of purchase and not an accident, with payments up to date, whoever is arranging the funeral may settle what is left and have Co-op carry it out, or decline, and Co-op then cancels the plan and returns the payments. Other providers' terms may differ.

The FCA's rules tell apart the customer and the covered individual, whose funeral it is, and allow for them being two different people. Where a plan bought for a parent or partner leaves you is set out on buying a plan for someone else. Whether an attorney or deputy can cancel for a person who can no longer decide for themselves is something the broker can look into with you on the free call-back.

What if a provider will not refund you, or fails?

Start with the provider's complaints process, then take it further. The Financial Ombudsman Service (page updated 16 September 2026) says it can look at complaints about "how their provider dealt with cancellations or refunds". Make a formal complaint to the firm first. If eight weeks pass without its final response, or you disagree with the answer, the Ombudsman can take the case at no cost to you. Our FCA page explains how to check that a provider is authorised and what the Ombudsman and the FSCS can do.

A provider that fails is a separate situation, covered on what happens if a funeral plan company goes bust. The contract you signed is on our funeral plan contract page, and moving a plan instead of ending it is on transferring a plan.

What can you do about funeral costs if you cancel?

A refund leaves open how a funeral will be paid for. How the options differ is on funeral plans compared with life insurance, our funeral cover comparison and how to pay for funeral expenses. The cost page shows why a plan's price is not a funeral's price, and the funeral plans guide brings these together.

If you are torn between a refund and keeping what you have, the enquiry form gets you a no-cost phone call with a broker who can go over plans and cover for funerals, with nothing to decide beforehand.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a refund on my funeral plan?

Within the cooling-off period, yes: the FCA's rules require the firm to repay what you paid within 30 days of receiving your notice. After that it depends on the provider's terms, and a fee may come off.

Can I cancel my Co-op funeral plan?

Co-op Funeralcare's plans page (archived 7 October 2026) says you can cancel by phone or its online form. A full refund applies within 30 days if you pay in full or over 6 or 12 months, or within 12 months on longer instalments, and after that its £125 fee is deducted.

Do funeral plans expire?

How long a plan lasts is covered on what a prepaid funeral plan is. For the length of your own plan and any conditions, a broker can go through it with you on the free call-back.

Is there a fee to cancel a funeral plan?

Not in the free cancellation period. Afterwards a provider may charge a fee that reflects its costs and is not for profit, and it must tell you the amount before you are liable for it.

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