The Golden Trustees

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When you buy one of your pre-paid plans we guarantee that your money will be safe.

 

All Golden Leaves Funeral Plans funds are held in the Golden Leaves Trust. The Trust manages the funds to achieve stable long-term growth and is overseen independently by a board of trustees and regulated in compliance with The Financial Services & Markets Act 2001. The fund is annually independently audited and subject to strict actuarial reporting, it is solid, stable and above all, completely secure.

 

 

You know you're in safer hands

Since pre-paid funeral planning was introduced to the UK in 1984, Golden Leaves Ltd has been in the forefront of providers. We were founding members of The National Association for Pre-paid Funeral Plans and The Funeral Planning Authority. Golden Leaves is also a registered provider with The Funeral Planning Authority which monitors the marketing, financial and service provisions of the plan providers that it regulates. As of 1st January 2002 funeral planning also became regulated by the FSA (The Financial Services Authority) adding further financial security.

 

We want you to be assured that with Golden Leaves your arrangements are in the safest possible hands. That's why all Funeral Directors that we appoint to provide services for a Golden Leaves Plan have first to satisfy a number of stringent requirements. They have to demonstrate outstanding service records in their local community and must be affiliated to relevant accredited professional associations such as The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) and/or The Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF).

 

 

The Golden Leaves Trust is managed by an independent board of Trustees, who have appointed Meryll Lynch and Quilter as the fund managers for the Trust and the Trust fund’s banker as Lloyds bank.
 
The funds accepted for funeral plans are held in an independently managed Trust, where it accumulates stable long term growth, specifically to cover the increasing cost of funeral services.
 
All funds are paid directly to the Golden Leaves Trust where they are held by an independent board of trustees. The trustees are required to ensure the adequacy of funds to cover the cost of the funerals when they occur. Our last actuarial reports state that there are adequate funds to cover all funerals should they occur on the same day.
The funds are invested in index linked gilts to ensure they keep pace with the RPI. Index linked gilts have performed well in the current market crises and have actually increased in value due to the flight by investors from equities into secure investments such as index linked gilts.
 
Furthermore should Golden Leaves Ltd cease trading due to liquidation, insolvency or any other reason the Golden Leaves Trust Fund is safe from any creditors because the Trust is an entirely separate legal entity.
 
In such an incident the trustees are required to find another company to complete the administration of the plans. In the first instance the trustees will ask Rowland Brothers International a sister company to Golden Leaves to administer all plans.   As a registered provider of the FPA, other registered providers are required to assist in the administration of the plans.
 
If Golden Leaves Ltd is taken over by another company the new company will assume all obligations the company has made to its plan holders. Any monies already paid in, will therefore be guaranteed to cover future funeral arrangements and payments will continue to be taken in accordance with the plan contact terms & conditions.
We are registered providers with the FPA and we adhere to their code of practice – in the event that we are no longer registered with the FPA we will endeavour to adhere to their code of practice.
 
Our Trustees
 

James K Humble OBE

Vice President of the Trading Standards Institute; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; Member of the Codes of Practice Committee, Department of Health.

Previous appointments include Assistant Director Office of Fair Trading and Executive Committee; National Consumer Congress; Non Executive Director of the National Consumer Council; Chief Executive LACOTS; Director Metrication Board; Director National Metrological Co-ordinating Unit. In Europe, Rapporteur Council of Europe Committees on Consumer Education and Codes of Practice; Leader Hague Nine; Member of various regulatory committees including FLEP [food law]; PROSAFE [product safety] and WELMEC [metrology].

European Commission Working Groups and, in Whitehall a member of the Methven Committee and the Eden Committee.


 

Jim Spinks

Jim Spinks runs an independent consultancy service focusing on trading standards and consumer protection. He has worked throughout the UK and in many countries overseas.

Previous experience was gained whilst in charge of the consumer protection service of London’s largest local protection service of London’s largest local authority. During many years in that role he established a formidable reputation for securing a better deal for consumers and for crushing unfair trading practices. In 1995 he was awarded Fellowship of the Trading Standards Institute for his outstanding services. He is an active member of the British Standards Society and of the Development Committee of the National Consumers Federation.

 

Nigel Quinnen

Nigel Quinnen has an established track record of devising investment strategies and constructing portfolios for a diverse range of clients.

Investment strategy experience was gained at Clarke Willmott Asset Management, Charterhouse Securities/ING Barings, Laurentian Financial Group & Lincoln Investment Management, Lazard Investors, Schroder Investment Management. He has an extensive experience of building and managing investment teams and of leading and motivating an investment department through major corporate change. He was invited to the Cabinet Office ‘Top Management Programme’, on the theme of ‘The Management of Change, and participated in the London Business School Investment Programme.

Nigel is a qualified ACA (1979), and an advisor to Investment Committee of Wadham College Oxford and the Investment Committee of the Diocese of Clifton

 

Click on the headings on this page to find out more, or call us FREE on 0800 85 44 48 (UK), 8000 98309 (Spain) or on +44 20 8684 3464 if calling from anywhere else outside the UK.