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UK: Watchdog to investigate funeral industry over pricing

By  |  November 29, 2018

 

The UK’s competition regulator is to hold a full market investigation into the funeral industry amid concerns over prices and a lack of transparency for vulnerable customers, reported the Financial Times.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has conducted an initial review of the market over the past six months and announced Thursday, November 29, that it had found problems that have led to above-inflation price rises for “well over” a decade for funeral directors and crematoria services.

The CMA concluded, “there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that there are features which prevent, restrict or distort competition in the markets for services by funeral directors at the point of need and crematoria services in the UK.”

The regulator stated, “It seems clear that the extreme vulnerability of customers has been a major factor in enabling suppliers to charge high prices in this sector.”

Full Content: Financial Times

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