Funeral Planning Services, Costs & Plans

No Charge applied to Under 16 years

If you need to arrange a funeral for a child, whether it’s for a baby lost during pregnancy or a child up to the age of 18, we will carry out our services for free.

We will carefully guide you through all the arrangements and listen to you to understand your thoughts and wishes. We will gently suggest unique ways to add personal touches to the day and be right by your side before, during, and after the funeral..

The free services we provide are:

• Our funeral director’s services
• Our funeral directors will support you through everything you need to do, including completing all the paperwork and making all the arrangements for the funeral.
• Our rooms where you can come to visit your child if you want to. You can spend as much time with them as you need. If you’d prefer them to be at home before the funeral, we can help you with this.

Other free services include:

• suitable funeral cars, such as hearse and limousine
• choice of coffin – fully lined and fitted with a soft interior
• your choice of route for the funeral procession

Children’s Funeral Fund for England

The Children’s Funeral Fund is a scheme to provide funding for the fees charged for a cremation or burial of a child under the age of 18. If you need to apply for this funding your funeral director will be able to help you.

If you want to choose a different coffin to the ones included for free in our funeral service, if you live in England, we can claim back the first £300 of the cost from the Children’s Funeral Fund for England (CFF) on your behalf and you won’t be charged.

Burial and cremation fees

In England, cremation and burial fees, including doctors’ fees for cremation documents, and the cost of a burial plot, will be claimed back from the Children’s Funeral Fund on your behalf.

If you live in England, Scotland or Wales your local authority will not charge for a standard burial or cremation of a child under the age of 18, but this might not include the cost of the grave.

Things you’ll need to pay for

You’ll need to pay for minister or officiant fees and any additional products and services that are not included in our free children’s funeral services.

You can choose to add other products or services to the funeral at an additional cost:

• personal floral tributes
• funeral stationery, memorial books
• obituary notices, acknowledgements
• caskets, urns and keepsakes
• headstones and masonry
• catering
• alternative hearse
• additional limousines

There are a number of charities and organisations that support people dealing with the death of a child.

You might find these helpful if you need further support, counselling or somebody else to talk to:

• Cruse Bereavement Care
• SANDS
• Child Bereavement UK

Simple Funeral Plan

£2250

What is included

• Collection of the deceased. We do not charge extra for collection outside of normal office hours.
• All necessary work to arrange the collection of the deceased, arrangements of the cremation or burial, conducting the funeral service and return of ashes (cremation only). This includes arrangements of the funeral in person.
• Coffin with handles and nameplate. A wide range of upgraded coffins are available at an additional cost including eco friendly, wicker, picture and solid wood coffins
• Care of the deceased including preparation for visits
• Chapel of rest visits by family and friends.
• Choice of date and time of funeral between Monday and Friday.
• Provision of a standard motor hearse to convey the deceased from our funeral home to the ceremony. This can include an interim stop at a residential address or similar location to meet mourners who wish to follow the hearse to the ceremony. We are also able to offer a range of alternative hearses. Example include a horse drawn hearse.
• Choice of officiant to conduct the ceremony. This may be a religious officiant or a civil celebrant
• Return of ashes from the crematorium for collection from our funeral home (cremation only)

What is not included

• Statutory doctors fee required by law (cremations only)
• A limousine is not included. Mourners may follow the hearse to the ceremony.
• Obituary in the local press
• Floral tributes
• Service at a place of worship prior to cremation or burial. Whilst a service will take place in the crematorium (or at the graveside in the case of burial), it is possible to have a more in-depth service at a place of worship beforehand.
• An urn is not included. The ashes will be returned to you in the receptable provided by the crematorium which may be a box or plastic container. We have a choice of cremation urns and scatter tubes to purchase for an extra charge.
• In the case of burials, if you don’t already own the grave. You will need to purchase the grave, we can arrange this for you.
• A limousine can be provided at an additional cost of £200.00.

A funeral plan is an easy way to arrange the funeral you want in advance. A plan allows you to specify your wishes and pay for the funeral director’s services included in your plan. As customers often tell us, that can bring peace of mind to you and your family. A plan from Golden Charter also includes an allowance towards third party costs. These are essential, non-funeral director services such as the cremation or burial fees, plus the minister or officiant’s fee to perform the service.  

At Meridian Funeral Home, we work in partnership with Golden Charter to provide you with a simple way to plan ahead. As one of the UK’s largest funeral plan providers*, Golden Charter has helped 900,000 people make funeral provisions** so we’re completely confident in offering their plans to you.

Everyone has different needs when it comes to funeral planning, so we make sure the plans we offer are as flexible as possible. When you get in touch, we’ll be happy to discuss your funeral requirements and tailor a plan to suit you. Rest assured a plan from Golden Charter is available to all UK residents regardless of age or state of health.

*Based on a Golden Charter analysis and independent research of the funeral plan market size as at January 2023.

**Correct at March 2023.

A plan to suit your needs

As an independently owned funeral director, we’ll take the time to understand your wishes and tailor a plan to suit you. We can discuss these at our premises or in your home, at a time that is convenient for you. If you’d prefer to discuss this over the phone or via email, we can assist with this too. You can tell us about any preferences you have in mind – the type of funeral you would like to have, hymns, music or any other personal touches – and we’ll make sure your plan takes these into account.

What’s included in a pre-paid funeral plan?

Our funeral director’s services will be covered in your funeral plan, which means our fees will be fixed at today’s prices. These services typically include:

• Professional services and making arrangements for the funeral
• Transportation of the deceased from the place of death to our premises, chapel of rest or other suitable location
• Care of the deceased and preparations for family viewing if requested
• Advice on the certification and registration of death and related documentation
• Provision of funeral vehicles
• Advice on bereavement counselling
• Coffin or casket requested

Although a pre-paid funeral plan can cover all of the services above, there are some additional third party costs to consider. These are the costs for essential, non-funeral director services required to carry out a cremation or burial which need to be paid at the time of the funeral. These costs are outside our control. Depending on the plan type chosen, a Golden Charter funeral plan can include a contribution towards some third party costs. They may include:

• Crematorium fee
• Minister or officiant’s fee
• Cemetery fee: the opening of a new or existing grave for burial or interment of cremated remains

Other third party costs that may be associated with a funeral include:

• Purchase of grave or lair
• Hire of church or other venue
• Fees for organist or soloist
• Memorial, such as a headstone, entry in a book of remembrance, or the planting of a tree
• Catering, floral tributes and newspaper announcements

There will only be more to pay at the time of the funeral if the third party costs exceed the allowance when you buy your plan, or if the costs increase by more than the growth of your plan. Even if prices rise in the future, once your plan is paid for, you’ll have the reassurance of knowing there’ll be nothing more to pay for our services included in the plan – guaranteed.

Payment options to suit you

With a Golden Charter funeral plan, you can pay for your plan in several ways. Spread the cost or make a one-off payment – simply choose the one that’s right for you. We will provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision.

The retail price of your funeral plan is representative of the equivalent cost of a funeral today plus an arrangement fee of £285 which is retained by Golden Charter to help cover the costs of setting up your plan.

Your payments are held within the Golden Charter Trust. With £1.2 billion under management,¹ the Trust is operated by a Board of Trustees, completely independent of Golden Charter. Their role is to hold your payments and ensure that the funeral director services in your plan can be paid for at the time they are required – however far into the future that may be. For more information on how your payments are protected, please visit goldencharter.co.uk/faqs

Looking after you as a customer

As a Golden Charter plan holder, you’ll receive personalised plan documents, which include a summary of your plan, our details, your plan holder certificate and a personal membership card for you to carry in your purse or wallet. You can add a nominated representative to your plan if you wish to do so. Your nominated representative will receive a letter which will provide details of your plan and our details, as your chosen funeral director. They will have no authority to make changes to your plan.

You’ll also receive a statement from Golden Charter every three years which will be sent via your preferred contact method.

As your funeral director, we’ll hold full details of your funeral plan. When the time comes, one phone call is all it takes to activate your plan and get the arrangements underway.

Ready to take the next step? Get in touch today

As well as the comfort of having a plan in place, you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with being able to help save your family from worry and expense in the future. So why not take the next step?

Meridian Funeral Home is an appointed representative of Golden Charter Limited trading as Golden Charter Funeral Plans which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN:965279).

Registered in England No. 02511598 Registered Office: One Fleet Place, London EC4M 7WS.

1. Confirmed by Golden Charter Trust’s audited accounts at 31 March 2022.

Direct Cremation
£1,800.00

We believe that the Direct Cremation is the way that all funerals will be held in the future – it is a dignified, respectful and cost-effective way to say goodbye to a loved one without the fuss. Arranging a funeral this way gives you time to celebrate the person’s life at a later date with a memorial service or a family gathering to share memories of your loved one.

There are no hidden costs.

Includes:

• Doctors fee
• Crematorium fee
• Coffin
• All paperwork and arrangements made on our behalf
• Visit to the funeral home if you wish to sit with your deceased relative to say a final goodbye