Funeral Services Limited,
trading as
A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...
Co-op Funeralcare, is a wholly owned subsidiary of
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op and formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, including grocery retail and wholesale, leg ...
, based in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, which operates over 1,000 funeral homes and is the largest funeral director in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, accounting for 16.5% of the "at need" funeral market during 2016. Co-op Funeralcare is a member of the National Association of Funeral Directors and is also Funeral Planning Authority registered.
In addition to its funeral home operations, the business also operates repatriation services; crematoria and cemeteries; woodland burial grounds; a memorial masonry manufacturing facility and a coffin factory and workshop.
Other co-operative societies such as
Midcounties Co-operative
The Midcounties Co-operative Limited is a consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom with over 758,000 members. Registered in England under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, it is a member of Co-operatives UK and Fe ...
use the previous The Co-operative Funeralcare for their businesses.
Operations

As a funeral director, Co-op Funeralcare arranges all aspects of a funeral service including transport, flowers, catering, obituaries and orders of service, liaising with the relevant officiants. The business caters for all cultures, faiths and beliefs and their services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Funeralcare also provide a range of funeral plans which allow people to plan and prepare for their funeral in advance. The Co-operative Funeralcare operates all of its funeral homes according to a strict NAFD code of practice, which ensures clients’ rights are properly protected. Employees are encouraged to take a
BTEC vocational qualification in funeral directing, which Co-op Funeralcare helped to set up.
Co-op Funeralcare is a national UK funeral director brand and, in 2009, it was the first funeral director to launch a national television advertising campaign. In addition to its Co-op branded funeral homes, Funeralcare also operate a number of private name funeral homes. These businesses have been purchased from independent funeral directors and continue to operate under the family name to maintain high levels of profitability.
Facilities
Co-op Funeralcare operated
Grenoside crematorium in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
,
Craigton crematorium in
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
cemetery and crematorium in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
,
Emstrey cemetery and crematorium in
Shropshire
Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
and
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...
& District crematorium in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
. These were sold to Dignity in 2016.
Co-op Funeralcare also operated Hinton Park,
Poole
Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...
and
Wimbourne woodland burial parks in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
and Mayfields remembrance park in the
Wirral,
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
under the Woodland Burials trading name until these were sold to Southern Co-Operatives.
Co-op Funeralcare's coffin factory and workshop is the largest in the UK, producing over 100,000 coffins every year and supplying its funeral home network with its core range. The business sells memorial masonry throughout the funeral home network and manufactures headstones at a manufacturing facility in Glasgow, Scotland.
Membership
Members of The Co-operative Group and participating regional societies earn membership points on funeral and memorial masonry plans. Points are converted into
dividend
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...
at a rate agreed annually by the Board.
A number of regional co-operatives such as the
Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative, trading as Central Co-op, is a regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom, based in Lichfield and which trades from over 460 sites across the English Midlands and East Anglia. The business is owned and de ...
and the
Midcounties Co-operative
The Midcounties Co-operative Limited is a consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom with over 758,000 members. Registered in England under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, it is a member of Co-operatives UK and Fe ...
also operate funeral homes under "The co-operative funeralcare" brand, though these are operated and managed independently.
References
External links
Co-op Funeralcare
{{DEFAULTSORT:Co-op Funeralcare
Funeralcare
Funeral-related companies of the United Kingdom
Cemeteries in the United Kingdom
Crematoria in the United Kingdom