The IFoA Review Team today publishes its fourth report Funeral Plan Trusts: A thematic review report on the advice of actuaries.
This is the first report from a series of reviews looking at actuaries as experts in narrower fields. Funeral plan trust advice was chosen as the first in this series as regulations are changing and there is significant interest in the operation of the pre-paid funeral sector.
“Around 1.5 million UK consumers have purchased a pre-paid funeral plan and are therefore relying on funeral plan trusts to meet the cost of their funerals. Although only a very small number of actuaries are involved in providing advice in this area, the size of the market demonstrates there is a significant public interest in actuarial advice being appropriate and of a consistently high standard.”
The review looked at examples of actuarial advice to pre-paid funeral plan trusts and burial societies. The report sets out key findings and recommendations and contains a high-level summary of the advice reviewed and case studies showcasing examples of good practice.
“I would like to thank the actuaries from nine organisations of all sizes of all sizes who agreed to take part in this review, which included scrutiny of advice and in-depth conversations with the actuaries involved. This has provided a detailed snap shot of the actuarial work being carried out in the run-up to regulation by the FCA. The IFoA Thematic Review Programme is part of the Actuarial Monitoring Scheme (AMS), designed to improve the effectiveness of actuarial regulation in the public interest, provide meaningful, credible, independent feedback to members and their employers and promote ongoing reinforcement and continuous improvement.