Hull funeral home scandal set to cost taxpayers up to £2m
The Hull funeral home scandal is set to cost taxpayers up to £2 million, The Telegraph understands.
The Government has pledged the extra funds to support the local response a month after police announced that they had recovered 35 bodies from a funeral parlour operated by Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.
The money will go to Hull and East Riding councils, which are expected to put some of the funds towards burying the deceased.
But families who bought apparently non-existent funeral plans from the company are concerned that nothing has been allocated to help loved ones with funeral expenses.
Four families who paid Legacy thousands of pounds believing that the money was being invested with a third-party insurer told The Telegraph they now believe the policies to be worthless.
Rachel Marshall said that her 76-year-old mother Rita Goldspink paid Legacy £2,700 for a funeral plan that she has now been told does not exist.
Ms Marshall told The Telegraph that this money should be made accessible to people “who have been sold a fake policy to apply for funding to cover expenses”.
She added: “Most people have evidence to prove these policies so it should be straightforward.”
The Telegraph understands that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has agreed to provide financial support of up to £2 million to two councils to cover specific, exceptional costs directly arising from the immediate local response.
Hull and East Riding councils said that they welcomed the financial support, describing it as a “commitment to understanding the situation and ensuring we can provide the assistance needed”.
The development follows Humberside Police’s admission on Thursday that they have been unable to identify the ashes of those cremated by Legacy.
Two individuals remain on bail after being arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.
Emma Hardy, the MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, told The Telegraph that she would “like to see the council use some of the money provided by the Government to compensate some of these people who have already lost so much”.
The Labour MP added: “This has had a huge impact on constituents. not only emotionally but financially, and for a community that can least afford it to lose thousands of pounds – for so many of them it’s their life savings.”
On Thursday, Julia Weldon, Hull City Council’s deputy chief executive, reassured bereaved families “at the centre of this incident” that financial support would be available.
“Our message to them is that when they are ready to discuss funeral arrangements, they do not need to worry about the costs,” she said.
But those who bought prepaid plans from the company under investigation have told The Telegraph that they are concerned not to hear an explicit commitment to ensure they too can afford to cover funeral costs.
Funeral plans can reduce pressure on loved ones by ensuring a policyholder’s wishes are known in advance while offering protection from future price rises.
The four families interviewed by The Telegraph said that they made advance payments to Legacy on the understanding that the funds would be transferred to an insurance firm called Ecclesiastical Planning Services.
Three families have described filling in seemingly official forms headed “Perfect Choice Funeral Plans”, one of Ecclesiastical Planning Services’ former trading names.
This newspaper has seen their documents, which appear to have been completed by both the policyholder and Legacy.
Mekala Colby-Brinkley, a church caretaker, checked her mother’s funeral policy after being alerted to the arrests by friends.
“After we confirmed with Ecclesiastical that there was no plan, they said: ‘I think you need to ring the police,’” she said.
Mrs Colby-Brinkley described her parents as “working-class people who have worked all their lives.
She added: “They might as well have just thrown two and a half grand in the bin.”
Jeff Richards, a retired postman, also grew concerned after news broke of the police investigation. He and his partner, Maureen Rollinson, paid Legacy for two funeral plans in 2015.
When he called Ecclesiastical Planning Services – the insurer whose name was on the paperwork – there was no record of a plan for either of them.
“We’d paid [Legacy] £4,200 in 2015 and got nothing to show for it,” said Mr Richards.
Like Ms Marshall, Mrs Colby-Brinkley and Mr Richards are appealing to council leaders to commit some of the funds to help compensate their families.
A spokesman for Ecclesiastical Planning Services said this was a “deeply distressing incident” and they are “working with families who contact us to establish if they have a plan with us” but cannot comment on individual cases.
“We would like to reassure customers that where plans are held with Ecclesiastical, the funds are managed by Ecclesiastical, not the funeral director,” they added.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of the insurance firm.
On Thursday, Asst Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin told a press conference that Humberside Police “have had a number of calls that relate to suspected financial and fraudulent activity”.
He added: “If you have concerns over a funeral plan that you or a loved one have taken out, please contact and speak to your insurance provider in the first instance and establish if the policy is legitimate or not.
“If not, please report it to the Police by calling the non-emergency number 101 or via the Humberside Police website.”
