How to choose a funeral director and compare prices

Every funeral director in the UK must display a set of price and business information in each branch and on its website. The rules come from the CMA's Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021, made on 16 June 2021, and the price display rules have applied since September 2021. A firm with no website that markets itself online, for example on social media, must show the information there instead.

The Standardised Price List must be a PDF titled 'Standardised Price List', no more than one click from the home page, and shown in the branch window where practicable. The firm must give you a copy on request, and offer to post one if you can't visit or get online. For anything bespoke that isn't on either price list, it must tell you the price before providing it.

Compare like for like using the Standardised Price List. The attended funeral price covers six items: legal and administrative arrangements, collection from the place of death (normally within 15 miles), care before the funeral, a coffin, viewing by appointment and a hearse to the cemetery or crematorium (normally within 20 miles) at an agreed time. The CMA's guidance says that if you don't want one of those items, the firm may remove it and apply a discount. Then add the extras you actually want from each firm's additional options list.

The attended price excludes the burial or cremation fee, which the list shows as a typical local range, and where the cremation happens can change the total. Worked example: Social Security Scotland's published cremation amounts for funerals from 1 April 2026 range from £871 in Aberdeen City to £1,450 in Angus, a difference of £1,450 − £871 = £579. Two quotes with identical funeral director charges could end up £579 apart because of the cremation fee alone, before any extra mileage beyond the 20 miles in the standard price. The CMA's explanatory note warns that fees for non-residents may be higher, so check each crematorium's own price information. You can compare funeral directors near you*.

Ask for a written, itemised estimate that separates the funeral director's own charges from each third-party fee. Scotland's statutory code says funeral directors should confirm the arrangements in writing, give an itemised estimate of all charges including third-party fees where known, and then an itemised final bill you can compare with it. Any change from the estimate should be explained, notified in advance and agreed with you. SAIF's version of the UK code, which NAFD has also adopted, uses the same wording, and nidirect says members of those bodies can't exceed a written estimate without your permission.

Disbursements are payments the funeral director makes to others on your behalf and recharges without mark-up. The CMA's examples are cremation and burial fees, doctors' fees and a minister's or celebrant's fee; GOV.UK adds newspaper announcements. For a burial, expect the interment fee (digging and closing the grave), the plot if it's a new grave, and possibly a fee to remove and replace an existing memorial. The price list's cremation range is for the shortest weekday peak-time slot, including the medical referee's fee; off-peak slots can be cheaper and weekend or longer slots dearer.

Doctors' fees have changed. In England and Wales, the confirmatory cremation certificate (form Cremation 5) was permanently removed in March 2022, and the medical certificate (form Cremation 4) went on 9 September 2024, when the statutory medical examiner system began checking every death not investigated by a coroner. The Department of Health and Social Care says the medical examiner system is centrally funded, so there's no fee. The CMA's 2021 price list template still says doctors' fees usually apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but for deaths in England and Wales that's out of date. In Northern Ireland, nidirect still lists doctors' certificates among the cremation forms and disbursements, so ask. Crematoria must publish their prices, and you can see crematorium fees across the UK*.

Membership is voluntary, but it tells you which code and complaints scheme applies. GOV.UK lists the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD), the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) and Funeral Experts as bodies with codes of practice.

NAFD says its members follow the UK Funeral Director Code, that every UK funeral home member is inspected by its standards and quality managers, and that complaints from a member's contracted client are handled through its NAFD Resolve process. You can check membership on its funeral directory. SAIF's Code of Practice (revised March 2026) adopts the same core code as Scotland's statutory code across the UK, says no client should be pressured or exploited, adds extra rules for its members and says members are inspected against it. SAIF told the government in July 2026 that families can use an independent complaints and redress scheme run by an alternative dispute resolution body certified by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.

Membership doesn't replace comparing prices, because the codes don't set what firms charge.

Scotland's Funeral Director Code of Practice is statutory: section 97 of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 says funeral directors must comply with it. Published on 12 February 2024, it came into force on 1 March 2025 along with statutory inspections under the Burial and Cremation (Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 2025. It applies to anyone carrying out a funeral director's work in Scotland, wherever the business is based.

Inspectors inspect against the code and investigate serious complaints, and the Scottish Government says they can issue enforcement notices. The code requires a written complaints procedure, published on the firm's website if it has one, and lets you complain to the firm, its trade association or the inspectors (funeralsectorri@gov.scot). The firm must tell the inspectors within 48 hours about any complaint concerning a breach of the code or the care of the deceased.

England has no statutory licensing or inspection of funeral directors. On 31 July 2026 the UK government said the Department of Health and Social Care would develop proposals to raise standards, including regulating the funeral sector.

You can choose any funeral director and take time to compare. The CMA Order bans funeral directors from arrangements that encourage hospitals, hospices, care homes or palliative care providers to refer families to them, and from touting for business while working for a coroner or the police. If one firm has already collected the person, you can still choose another, although you may have to pay the first firm for the work it has done.

To complain, use the firm's own procedure first, then its trade association if it belongs to one. In Scotland you can also go to the inspectors. In Northern Ireland, nidirect points to Consumerline and Advice NI. If a funeral director isn't displaying the price information the Order requires, you can tell the CMA at funerals@cma.gov.uk.