Funerals market investigation latest

First published by Author on September 19, 2019 in the following categories: Investigations and tagged with cma | competition law | funerals market | investigations

Here’s the latest in the ongoing funerals market investigation that’s being conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The market study was launched last year in June 2018. Research was commissioned to better understand the experiences and decision-making processes of people who had engaged the services of a funeral director. A number of businesses in the market responded after the launch of the market study and made comments in relation to the information gathering exercise that the CMA is undertaking.

With this being a market that will (likely) always be there, it’s an important one when it comes to making sure that competition is healthy in the sector.

Recent goings on in the funerals market investigation

In November 2018, the CMA published an interim report outlining their progress so far for the funerals market investigation. A number of the businesses in the sector responded to the interim report earlier this year.

Advice was produced in March this year in conjunction with Age UK and the Money Advice Service. A Phase 2 market investigation was then launched the same month.

Recent developments

In April 2019, an Issue Statement was produced by the CMA which outlined potential theories as to how competition might be affected.

This wasn’t a set of findings or conclusions, but more an idea of what they had found so far as part of the investigation. Since then, a number of the businesses in the sector have also provided their responses to the Statement.

The statutory deadline is set for this month, so we may hear something soon in terms of further ideas, conclusions, or where the investigation is headed.

The importance of the funerals market investigation

The funerals market investigation is undoubtedly an important one. Although we say this a lot, we have a sector here that’s effectively needed by everyone, so it realty is vital to ensure that competition is healthy.

We all have to die sometime. The likelihood of needing funeral services is pretty inevitable, so any distortion or disruption of competition could be very bad for the consumer.

It’ll be interesting to see how this one develops as we near the deadline this month.