People who take out insurance to cover the cost of a funeral are often not given enough information about what they are actually buying, the financial services watchdog said in a report out on Friday.

In addition, funeral insurance firms often do not monitor the quality of the intermediaries they work with, the AFM said.
An analysis of sales conversations made by the big five funeral insurers shows consumers’ wishes and their own personal situation are often not properly taken into account.
‘In most cases, the phone calls showed a lack of clear and correct information. This means it is not clear to the consumer what the insurance policy covers,’ the AFM said.
Funeral insurance firms have repeatedly come under fire for sending grieving relatives bills for extra services which people thought were covered by their basic policy, or for advising unnecessary extra services.