Introduction
At Funeral Partners, our focus is clear: to strive to be the best Funeral Director in every community we serve. That means providing the very best standard of care to bereaved families today.
Our funeral homes are rooted in the local communities we serve, and some have been around for more than 300 years. It’s why so many of our clients put their trust in us when they choose us to arrange their loved one’s funeral, a position of privilege we don’t take for granted.
Providing an excellent level of service also means planning for the future. That means being accountable to our communities and the
environment, and making a commitment to be there for future generations.
We recognise this ambition is no mean feat. It’s why we commit to continually improving our sustainability activities, and to reporting on our progress.
About this Report
This Report sets out our Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments in 2023. It outlines the activities we’re currently invested in, and details priorities for each activity.
Our Sustainability Report is updated every year and is guided by the
following key principles:
Trust:
We want to build trust and understanding by sharing our sustainability priorities.Transition:
We want to recognise where we are now, and commit to activity which supports a more sustainable future for everyone.Track:
We want to track our progress and be able to evidence our improvements year-on-year.Our commitments
We strive to continually improve everything we do, and in 2023 we are committed to the following areas:
Care
People
Communities
Funeral Plans
Environment
Providing exceptional care to our clients at one of the most difficult times is at the heart of what we do.
Our objectives
- Offer personalised funerals to every client
- Provide the best possible care to those who’ve passed on
- Tailor support to customers who may be vulnerable
- Ensure transparent pricing across all products and services
Our achievements
- By encouraging teams to create unique funerals for every family we’ve received positive media attention
- Our online “quote builder” has enabled clients to get an accurate estimate of funeral services before speaking to us
- Introducing webcams in every funeral home, allowing remote access to team members, so they can help people who wish to arrange funerals in their own homes
- Introducing “Live Chat” on our website, to help those who may prefer to use digital means to communicate with us
- Creating new training for our colleagues to help identify clients who may be vulnerable and require tailored support
- Introducing live streaming video links into a number of our funeral service venues
- Invested over £2m in funeral home refurbishments and back-of-house improvements during Financial Year during 2022, and plan to continue to invest at a similar level in future years
Our commitments
- Provide more training to our teams on how to support vulnerable customers
- Seek external support from charities in order to improve our training and support of vulnerable groups
- Make enhancements to our online “quote builder” to add even more products and services, to enable even greater price transparency
Only with the best people can we provide the best service. It’s why this year, we’ll be investing even more into training and wellbeing initiatives for our teams.
Our objectives
- For our colleagues to feel empowered, happy and satisfied in their work
- Minimise health and safety risks associated with our business activity
- Encourage awareness and dialogue around mental health and wellbeing
- Create a more diverse workforce where everyone feels included
- Commit to the ongoing professional development of our team members
- Listen to our team members and make continued improvements as a result
Our achievements
- Supported National Inclusion Week and offered diversity and inclusion training to all team members
- Introduced Mental Health First Aiders to support those with mental health issues
- Redeveloped an entire funeral home in order to accommodate the disability needs of one of our colleagues
- Used Apprenticeship Levy funds to invest in the development of our frontline team members and management population, and provided in-house tutoring to colleagues who wanted to gain National Association of Funeral Directors qualifications
Our commitments
- Roll out additional health and safety training, in particular, manual handling training
- Give local team members a voice in the business through more Colleague Forums
- Create a formal Continued Professional Development structure to enable colleagues to capture their development
- Roll out more diversity and inclusion training to colleagues
By being active in our local communities and supporting causes that matter, we’re able to break down barriers about death and bereavement and help people get to know Funeral Directors better. It’s why this year, we aim to forge even closer ties in our communities.
Our objectives
- Encourage our communities to open up about bereavement and funerals
- Carry out community activities to get more people acquainted with their local Funeral Directors
- Support the causes that matter to our local communities
Our achievements
- Raised over £125k in 2022 to support local good causes and charities
- Launched a £20k Community Fund in 2022 in Northern Ireland, where local groups could apply in order to fund local causes
- Enabled clients, families and friends to give £2.6m in 2022 to their preferred charities (via our online charity donation service, provided by MuchLoved)
Our commitments
- Update our bereavement training resources (which our teams provide to local groups who may be impacted by bereavement e.g. care homes)
- Provide more toolkits for our teams to engage with the local community, taking into account new regulatory requirements
- Introduce more Community Funds into local areas to give back to communities
We recognise many people wish to plan and pay for their funeral services in advance – and that pre-planning for a funeral can ease the emotional and financial burden placed on families when someone dies. Funeral Partners provide Funeral Plans under the brand name “Choice Funeral Plans”.
Our objectives
- Enable every funeral plan customer to capture personalised choices about their funeral service, in advance
- Provide a variety of funeral planning product options and purchase methods in order to meet the evolving needs of our customers
- Meet the ongoing regulatory requirements placed on our funeral planning business, which is now authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority*
Our achievements
- Our funeral planning business became authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Training of more than 500 funeral home team members who support funeral plan customers to meet the new regulatory requirements
- Launching the ability to purchase a funeral plan online (for those who may prefer not to visit our premises)
Our commitments
- Aim to launch different funeral plan products for customers with differing funeral plan needs
- Adapt our business in order to meet the requirements placed on us by the Financial Conduct Authority’s “Consumer Duty”
- Improve the support we are able to provide to funeral plan customers who may be vulnerable
*Alternative Planning Company Limited (APCL) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with Firm Reference Number 965282. APCL is part of the Funeral Partners Group.
We all have a responsibility to make sustainable choices. Especially businesses. So we’re committed to understanding the impact we have on the environment, and to minimising this impact, as part of a long-term strategy.
Our objectives
- Understand the full extent of our carbon emissions, using international carbon accounting standards (the Greenhouse
Gas Protocol) - Minimise the environmental and human impact of our business operations, including our supply chains
- Enable our clients to make funeral choices based on their values and environmental concerns
Our achievements
- Partnered with Normative (a leading carbon accounting provider) in order to create a carbon reduction programme
- Continued to work with our coffin suppliers to increase number of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified coffins in our range
- In financial year 2022 we invested £2.3m in our fleet. By reducing the age profile of our vehicles to increase fuel efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and by the introduction of a trial of three fully electric ceremonial vehicles
- In the last 12 months we have Invested £0.3m in our first fully electric ceremonial vehicles and have plans to invest further in such vehicles in the future
Our commitments
- Continue with our carbon reduction programme (with an aim over time to reduce overall carbon emissions per funeral, as part of a long-term path to net zero emissions)
- Aim to commit to specific initiatives to help our path to zero, such as further investment in our transition to a fleet of electric vehicles
- Work with our supply chain to minimise environmental and human impact, through the introduction of sustainable supply chain initiatives
- Provide clearer information to our clients about environmental considerations associated with funeral services
Our commitment to good governance
Across our business, we’ve made a commitment to sustainability, and we recognise this requires strong governance frameworks.
We have a number of forums in place in our business to manage sustainability risk, as well as other risks – such as information security, data protection and wider operational risk.
Our Chief Executive Officer, who is a Member of the Executive of the National Association of Funeral Directors leads the way, championing sustainability within our business.
Monitoring progress
Progress toward our sustainability goals is closely monitored at our monthly Risk Governance Committee, which is attended by three members of the Funeral Partners Board.
Our industry credentials
- All our Funeral Directors are part of the National Association of Funeral Directors
- All of our Funeral Directors in Northern Ireland are members of the Irish Association of Funeral Directors (IAFD)
- Our funeral plan business is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 965282), and all our funeral plan monies are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
- Funeral Partners is Cyber Essentials certified and continues to invest in minimising information security risk
- Our Director of Central Operations is a member of the British Institute of Embalming, as well as its current National President
