What to do After A Death - Funeral Consumer - Arranging a Funeral

EVANSABOVEONLINE.co.uk

Independent Funeral Choice - Sudden Death

What to do After A Death - Funeral Consumer - Arranging a Funeral - evansaboveonline.co.uk

OBJECTIVE

The objective of my campaign is diverse.

It incorporates raising enquiry, conducting ethical research whilst questioning the integrity of current practice, of the:

Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)

· To open discussion in how best the DWP could prove useful to the bereaved, beyond publishing information such as the booklet D49 ‘What To Do After Death’

Office of Fair Trading (OFT)

· To challenge their claims that 96% of the public are happy with the funeral industry

· Question their claims that only 4% are dissatisfied with the funeral industry, and that it may be a factor that they just have not heard from 96% of consumers?

· Convince the OFT that voluntary codes of practice and principals are too heavily relied upon and are not working effectively

· Question why there is remarkably little regulation in the funeral industry

· Question how voluntary codes and practice are implemented?

· Question why no qualifications are needed to set up business as a funeral undertaker

· Raise enquiry to why there has never been an investigation of complaints received by funeral trade associations

· Convince the OFT that a campaign is needed to educate and create consumer awareness of rights when making a purchase from a funeral service provider and advise the public that funeral undertakers hold no statutory powers or licence

· Convince the OFT that there is a serious gap in current legislation that fails to acknowledge the bereaved as ‘vulnerable, at need’ consumers

· Challenge the OFT that their overall view is based on economics and not ethics

· Request that Consumer Direct amend their website content to advise the funeral consumer of their statutory consumer rights under the Supply of Goods and Service Act 1982 and Trade Description Act 1968

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)

· Challenge policy that they wish to ensure that UK consumers are confident, treated fairly, know their rights, use them effectively, and that consumer law is seen to fair to both consumers and business, which is currently not the case for this area of purchase

The Department of Health (DOH)

· To open discussion to how best the DOH could prove valuable to educate the public in what one may do after death

LACORS

· Open discussion in how best the promotion of quality regulation, development of policy of advice and guidance could assist in good practice for local authority to distribute guidance for the bereaved.

Directgov

· Open discussion to edit content of website that is inaccurate and offer suggestions to how it may be improved

The All Party Group for Funeral and Bereavement

· Make enquiry to the practice of the group and how best it serves the lay public as it is apparent that it is supported by the National Association of Funeral Directors and Politics Direct?

Various Bereavement Charities

· To raise awareness to the varying advanced education programmes that fail to acknowledge the bereaved as consumers

Citizen Advice Bureau

· To open discussion in relation to past social policy campaigns that identify problems for the bereaved, beyond will writing and pre-payment funeral plans etc.

· aim to encourage new campaigns to raise the level of awareness to ones private and consumer rights

Practitioners of Emergency Preparedness

· To provoke thought and encourage managers working in this environment to acknowledge that the protocol for civil protection should encompass the idea that to protect the public, the potentially bereaved, is of equal value as other civil contingencies plans that are in place to protect the public