30/07/2026
Statement from Charles Rogers, Chief Executive, Plan with Grace Ltd t/a Funerals with Grace
The evidence heard during the Legacy Independent Funeral Directors case has been truly heartbreaking.
Above all else, our thoughts are with the families who have had to endure the unimaginable pain of learning that the trust they placed in a funeral director has been so profoundly broken. At a time when people should be grieving their loved ones, they have instead found themselves reliving trauma in a courtroom. It is impossible not to feel devastation for every family affected.
Whilst it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings, this case has once again brought into sharp focus the urgent need for statutory regulation of funeral directors.
For more than 7 years, I have been calling on successive Governments to introduce mandatory regulation across the funeral directing profession. I first wrote to Government in 2019 because I firmly believed that bereaved families deserved greater protection. Sadly, the events unfolding in Hull, together with the findings of the Fuller Inquiry, have only reinforced that conviction.
The overwhelming majority of funeral directors provide exceptional care, compassion and dignity every single day. They, too, deserve a regulatory framework that protects the reputation of the profession they work so hard to uphold.
At Plan with Grace Ltd t/a Funerals with Grace, we are a proud supplier member of the National Association of Funeral Directors and a member of the National Association of Funeral Plan Providers. We strongly support the standards these organisations promote, but voluntary membership alone cannot replace independent statutory oversight.
Families should never have to wonder whether their loved one will be treated with dignity and respect. That should be a given, underpinned by clear national standards, independent inspection and meaningful accountability.
The Government has an opportunity to restore public confidence in an essential profession by introducing comprehensive statutory regulation of funeral directors. For the sake of every family, and every funeral professional who does the right thing every day, I urge Ministers to make this a priority.
