POUND NOTES
■ Some funeral directors need to be more transparent about their pricing up front, according to Which?
Vulnerable customers could be put at risk of paying inflated prices, the consumer group warned.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is consulting on the details of new requirements, which it is proposing will come into effect in September 2021.
Which? said its research in February, into 112 funeral directors, found about a quarter (29) of them did not include pricing on their websites.
Which? said about 40 funeral directors showed package costs with a description of what is included but provided no cost breakdown. It said only 18 showed itemised price lists.
Jenny Ross, editor of Which? Money, said: “Organising a funeral is already a stressful time for families – that stress shouldn’t be compounded by the fear of paying inflated prices.”
■ The Bank of England has forecast the economy will grow this year at its fastest pace since the Second World War as Britain stages a vaccine-fuelled recovery.
The Bank predicts gross domestic product (GDP) – a measure of the size of the economy – will rebound by 7.25% in 2021, up from its previous prediction of 5% and the best year of growth since 1941.
It comes after the pandemic saw the UK suffer the biggest drop in output for 300 years in 2020, when it plummeted by 9.8%.
The rapid progress of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and the lifting of restrictions is seeing the economy rebound sharply as consumers spend savings built up over lockdown.