Funeral Group Dignity Works With UK Watchdog

Funeral services provider Dignity stated on Wednesday, June 23, that it has canceled contracts with five of its partners following an assessment that showed they were not economical and failed to uphold the British company’s standards.

The company, which also laid out a new strategy days after fresh guidelines from the UK competition regulator on pricing, stated the cancelations will lower revenue at its funeral plan division by 35% for the current year.

The company pledged to ensure its organizational structure is more “open and dynamic” and also stated it would increase investment in standards of care, facilities and its estate, as well as competitive pricing.

It follows a lengthy probe into the funeral sector by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which last December concluded that funerals were costing consumers too much and made a series of recommendations.

The watchdog ruled last week that funeral directors and crematorium operators must make prices clear for customers from mid September, or risk court action.

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