You and Yours

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You and Yours: Funeral Plans; Leisure Centres; Independent Shops

10/06/2020

Funeral Plans; Leisure Centres; Independent Shops

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Funeral Plans; Leisure Centres; Independent Shops

Companies selling funeral plans face tougher regulation; and what now for leisure centres?

Companies selling funeral plans face tougher regulation after concerns about aggressive sales calls and rip-off products. Plus warnings some leisure centres may never reopen.

Companies that sell funeral plans, where people pay into a pot to fund their own service after they die, are to be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It follows years of complaints from consumer groups saying that products are often sold aggressively and do not always represent good value for money. You & Yours  hears how an 87 year old woman with dementia was cold-called by a sales person and signed up to a £3500 funeral plan. 

A survey of councils in England suggests some leisure centres will have to close once lockdown ends. The District Councils' Network estimates that leisure centres in district council areas lost more than £45 million in income in April 2020 alone, compared with the year before. It is urging the Government to provide more funding to ensure services are kept open. We speak to one wellbeing trust, Luton Active, which runs 6 leisure centres in the area, about the financial pressures it is under and how gyms, swimming pools and football pitches can be reopened safely. 

One silver lining of the Coronavirus lockdown has been the return of shoppers to local high streets and independent shops. Those that have been able to keep trading, and find ways of trading say they are seeing more customers. A report from Barclaycard looking at the way people are spending their money suggests although the amount we are spending non-essential items has dropped (-36.9% year on year), spending in local specialist food and drink outlets, such as greengrocers and independent convenience stores, has grown by more than 40%.  

Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Natalie Donovan

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