Anger at 'insulting' defunct funeral firm refunds

A woman who paid nearly £2,500 into a pre-paid funeral firm has said she feels "insulted" and "disgusted" after receiving a cheque for less than £100 years after the company collapsed.

Denise Hudson, from Derby, was among 46,000 people who lost thousands of pounds when Safe Hands Plans Ltd failed in 2022.

Now administrators for Safe Hands, FRP Advisory, are distributing just under £3.5m of the estimated £83m paid in.

An FRP spokesperson said it was "working hard to recover more funds and once they are received, we will be able to pay another distribution".

Ms Hudson said she might "frame" the cheque for £96.50, using it as a reminder to keep fighting for answers about what happened to all the victims' money.

"It shows me that I have to keep battling this, to find out where this money has gone and when we are going to get it.

"But I won't be cashing it. I won't be cashing it until I get the rest of it," she said.

Ms Hudson said she invested in a funeral plan with Safe Hands in 2019 after seeing it advertised on television.

"That was my savings. I gave it in good faith. I actually thought what it said on the tin, it is in safe hands," she said.

Since July 2022, pre-paid funeral providers have required approval to operate from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Safe Hands was one of dozens of companies operating in the previously unregulated sector, and collapsed four months before the measures came in.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened its investigation, which is ongoing, into Safe Hands in October 2023.

The court-appointed administrator for Safe Hands initially said planholders could receive repayments of between 8.5p and 12.5p for every pound they lost.

FRP Advisory told the BBC payments would be given out by the end of June.

But after a six-month delay, the amount that has been repaid to victims of the funeral firm collapse is much less - about 4p for every pound.

A FRP spokesperson said: "We are working hard to recover more funds and once they are received, we will be able to pay another distribution.

"We aim to always return as much as possible as quickly as possible and in as fewer disbursements as possible."

After spending almost £7,000 on a funeral plan with Safe Hands, Marie-José and Paul Watkins, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, said they were "taken aback" when they opened their repayment cheque for just more than £250.

The couple said they were "devastated" when they heard the company had gone under in 2022, as they had only just finished paying for their plan.

They recall taking out their policies after Mr Watkins's dad - Robin Watkins - died of Covid-19.

They said they "couldn't fault" his pre-paid plan, which was taken out with a different firm, and decided to take out their own, ensuring everything was taken care of for their daughter.

"The name Safe Hands, you feel like you're in safe hands.

"They said our money was ring-fenced, we could pull it out if we wanted to," Mr Watkins said.

However, Mr Watkins said the couple felt "anything but safe" when they found out their £6,990 pre-paid funeral money was gone.

The former foster carers paid in instalments over two years.

"We're hard-working people. Everything we've got, we've worked hard for," he said.

The couple received two cheques amounting to £139.80 each, which they said was an "insult".

"Originally it was meant to be more. Although it's better than nothing," Mr Watkins added.

The BBC understands just under £15m has been recovered by the administrators, but only £3.3m has been passed on to the victims.

Mr and Mrs Watkins said they thought a lot of the money recovered might have gone to pay the administrators.

A FRP spokesperson said: "The administrators' fees help to cover the significant costs of this complex case, including legal proceedings in multiple jurisdictions, court applications to recover funds from the Cayman Islands, tracing assets, and the administrative work of contacting and then distributing funds to thousands of planholders.

"We have processed more than 30,000 individual claims and each one demands time and resources."

Former director of Safe Hands, Richard Wells, has denied any wrongdoing.

Through his solicitor, he said he was co-operating with an investigation into the company, which is being conducted by the Serious Fraud Office.

The government department started its investigation into Safe Hands and its parent company, SHP Capital Holdings, in 2022 and said this was still ongoing.

However Ms Hudson said "someone or somebody out there needs to be made accountable".

"I was quite insulted and disgusted with all those years of waiting to get something back - and that's what they've given us," she said.

Mrs Watkins said she now found it hard to trust anyone after what had happened.

"How do you know if you invest in something that it's still going to be there in so many years?

"You just don't know what people are going to do," she said.

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