Important Factors in Choosing a Funeral Director
Choosing a funeral director is one of the most important decisions anyone will make when planning the funeral of a loved one. Essentially, it's the role of the funeral director to ensure that everything runs smoothly in the run up to and on the day of the funeral service. Making sure you select a funeral director that's suitable for your personal needs can save time, money and most importantly worry.
Word of mouth
Turning to friends and family for advice is common in the immediate period after losing a loved one and the most common way for bereaved families to find and select a funeral director is word of mouth.
Recommendations often come from someone who has personal experience of a local funeral director and who has been quick to praise their services. With this type of personal recommendation, there's a reassurance that it'll be safe to go with the same company.
Recommendations from health professionals can also help influence the choice of funeral director. Public Health England published statistics in February 2018 that show that only 23.5% of people pass away in their homes; with 46.9% dying in hospitals and 21.8% in care homes.
In these circumstances, care workers, nurses and doctors can provide valuable advice and support on how to proceed. They often have experience of which funeral directors are considered to be popular in the local area and their recommendations can be especially useful when families are experiencing bereavement for the first time or are new in an area.
Research carried out by a CMA consumer survey discovered that 89% of people buy from the first funeral director they go to. With this as a consideration, it's understandable that many people will listen to and act on recommendations presented to them by trusted professionals, friends or family.
However, a valuable addition to word of mouth recommendations are online reviews. localfuneral.co.uk incorporates Google reviews into their website. This lets you see, quickly, the star rating (out of five) of local funeral directors and the number of reviews the rating is based on.
Location is important
Location also plays a big part in how people choose a funeral director; and further research from CMA revealed that for many people arranging funerals, how 'local' a funeral director was to where the deceased lived was a big determining factor in the final choice.
There are several reasons behind this, most notably being able to visit the funeral director frequently and easily while arrangements are being made. It also helps make transportation of the body easier if the funeral director is located close to the place of death and the location of the cemetery or crematorium. Even where family members have moved away, holding the funeral in a place local to the deceased is considered to be the most influential factor in choosing a funeral director.
Local access to the funeral director makes it possible to liaise face-to-face prior to the funeral and even arrange a home visit. This will help to give next of kin regular reassurance that everything is going according to plan, as well as making it possible to discuss any last minute changes quickly and easily.
Choosing a local funeral director can also make it easier for people close to the deceased to visit the chapel of rest to say their final goodbyes privately in advance of the funeral service.
Confirm the services offered
The range of services provided by a particular funeral director, and the prices they charge can also sway the choice of funeral director. And although most essential services are carried out by the majority of funeral directors, it's important to check if a particular funeral director can meet all of your personal requirements.
For example, families should consider the area covered by a funeral director, both in terms of collection of the body and the time required to travel to the funeral location. Specific transportation might call for special arrangements and, if an eco-friendly funeral is required, it might be worth finding a firm that has experience in this area.
Funeral director listings on localfuneral.co.uk can help provide the information needed to make a choice based on services provided and, in many instances, the funeral price. Standard information includes a breakdown of the services offered by the funeral director and any specialisms, as well as distance from your location.
Listings also show whether the funeral director is a member of one of the industry associations that provide training and oversight of professional practise. The Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) and the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) both operate codes of conduct that their members must abide by.