If you’re a new funeral plan provider or intermediary, find out when you need to apply to us for authorisation and how to apply.
On this page 
Before carrying out any business, you must either:
- be directly authorised by us, which means applying to us for authorisation, or
- be an appointed representative (AR) of a principal firm, which means your principal firm must apply to us on your behalf
Other pages in this section explain how to:
- appoint intermediaries as ARs if you’re a funeral plan provider
- become an AR if you’re a funeral plan intermediary
- apply for a variation of permission if you’re already authorised by us
What to read first
Prepare your application
You must submit your application through Connect.
Make sure you include:
- your regulatory business plan
- all the required forms and supporting material
The sections below have more information about what we expect to see in your application.
Prudential requirements
Whether you’re applying to be a funeral plan provider or an intermediary (whether directly authorised or as an AR), you must meet our prudential requirements.
You can read about this in our policy statement.
Providers – to help us assess your financials, if your company’s statutory accounts are prepared on a consolidated basis with your trust accounts, you must be able to provide a stripped-out version of the company accounts that outlines the company’s standalone financial position.
Intermediaries – please prepare your business to make sure you have the financial resources to meet these requirements. If you apply for direct authorisation, you must demonstrate in your application how you’ll meet these requirements.
Application fee
You have to pay a fee to submit your application. The fee is non-refundable.
The fee for funeral plan:
- providers falls into pricing category 5, which will be £10,000
- intermediaries falls into pricing category 4, which will be £2,500
Find out more about our authorisation fees, including our pricing categories and how to pay.
Final check and submit
Before you submit everything on Connect, give it one more check to be sure you’ve included everything.
Our how to apply page has 3 top tips to ensure your application goes smoothly, and explains what happens after you’ve submitted it.
If you need more help
Please contact us on 0300 500 0597. We’re open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9am to 5pm, and Thursday 9.45am to 5pm.