Two senior executives involved in the collapse of Safe Hands Plans, the prepaid funeral business which went into administration in 2022 leaving 46,000 plan holders owed an estimated £70.6 million, have been charged with conspiracy to defraud by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
In a press release issued yesterday (Thursday), the SFO confirmed it had formally charged 39 year old Richard Wells, a former director of SHP Capital Holdings, the parent of Safe Hands Plans Limited, and 43 year old Neil Debenham.
The SFO announced an investigation into events at Safe Hands Plans in October 2023 after the firm went into administration following its failure to obtain regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after the decision to regulate the prepaid funeral plan market in 2019. Prepaid funeral plan providers were given until July 2022 to register with the FCA. The fallout from the Safe Hands failure hit national news following the revelation the firm had defaulted on 46,000 plan holders.
Emma Luxton, director of operations at the Serious Fraud Office, said:
“This scheme marketed peace of mind to tens of thousands of people, many of them vulnerable, – that promise dissolved when it collapsed, leaving plan holders exposed, out of pocket and uncertain about their funeral arrangements.
“Today’s charges mark a critical step in our investigation.”
Wells and Debenham are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 5 February 2026.
3 responses
Safe Hands existed amomgst several similar companies and there was little to distinguish them from similar companies or to provide any company specific safeguards or warmings. If regulation of the prepaid funeral plan market was put in place in 2019, why was the company allowed to open for business at a later date. ?
Is it not more prudent simply to invest money in an interest-bearing bank or building society account, in one’s own name, to cover one’s funeral costs, than to entrust money to a company which might default? Payment of funeral costs can be paid directly from such an account to the funeral director, without having to await a grant of probate.
Funerals were increasing in cost at a much higher rate than interest rates were, whereas purchasing the plan was locked at the purchase date price. Unfortunately Safe Hands weren’t that safe, and should have been called ‘Fake Hands’ or ‘On-the-take Hands’