殡葬市场结果回顾

Review of market outcomes 9 February 2024 © Crown copyright 2024 You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format ormedium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visitwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, LondonTW9 4DU, or email:psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk. Contents 1.Summary .............................................................................................................. 32.Introduction ........................................................................................................... 73.Information collected from funeral directors and crematorium operators .............. 94.Findings .............................................................................................................. 125.Analysis of market outcomes .............................................................................. 15Appendix A: Funeral directors detailed findings ....................................................... 18Appendix B: Crematorium operators detailed findings ............................................. 19 1.Summary 1.1On 18 December 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issueditsfinal reportfollowing a market investigation into the supply of funerals andrelated goods and services in the United Kingdom. 1.2The CMA’s investigation identified problems in the funerals sector andproposed a package of ‘sunlight remedies’ to address those problems. Theremedies, including the legally binding Funerals Market Investigation Order2021 (the Order), are intended to support customers when choosing a funeraldirector or crematorium and to place the sector under greater public scrutiny. 1.3The CMA investigation also recommended that the CMA Board should: (a)actively monitor market outcomes in the funerals sector, in order toidentify and, where possible, address any harmful behaviour;(b)publish an annual review of market outcomes in the funerals sector; and(c)consider at the earliest opportunity, when the impact and consequencesof the COVID-19 pandemic on the funerals sector are sufficientlyunderstood and the sector is more stable, whether to consult on a futuremarket investigation reference (MIR).1 1.4This report is the second annual review of market outcomes in the funeralssector. For this review, we have analysed information provided by funeraldirectors and crematorium operators to the CMA to cover the period from 1September 2022 to 31 August 2023. 1.5Although the submissions we have received from funeral directors andcrematorium operators have provided us with substantial coverage of thesector, we did not receive submissions from 16% of those funeral directorsand crematorium operators who were required to provide the specifiedinformation to the CMA. The CMA will continue to take action, whenever 1In addition to the remedies summarised in paragraphs1.2and1.3, the Inquiry Group conducting the CMAinvestigation also gave serious consideration to price control regulation. Their view was that while measures toimprove the competitive process were valuable, they were unlikely to be sufficient due to the circumstancesfollowing a bereavement meaning consumers would have significant difficulty in engaging with the purchasingprocess in general (and the issue of price in particular). However, COVID-19, and the essential public healthresponse to it, severely restricted the CMA’s ability to fully develop all the remedies that the Inquiry Group mayotherwise have pursued in order to achieve a complete solution to the problems found. The Inquiry Groupconsidered consumers may in the future require a level of protection beyond the measures introduced throughthe Order and therefore, it recommended that the CMA Board should consider consulting on a future MIR whenthe impact and consequences of the pandemic on the funerals sector were sufficiently understood and the sectorwas more stable. required, to ensure that it has the information it needs to monitor outcomes inthe funerals sector. 1.6The main finding of our second annual review is that the average revenue perfuneral for the period from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023 is slightlyhigher than for the period from 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022 and atthe time of the market investigation, although the increase is below the rate ofinflation for the corresponding period.2 1.7This finding contrasts with analysis conducted during the market investigation,which showed that the average cost of the funeral director’s professionalservices3had increased by an annual rate of 4.5% (1.6% in real terms,accounting for inflation) between 2006 and 2019.4 Similarly, Figure 1 belowshows that the amount spent on the cost of services provided by third parties5had increased by an average annual rate of 5.6% (2.5% accounting forinflation) for cremations and 7.4% (4.3% accounting for inflation) for burials