The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened a criminal investigation into a suspected fraud at Safe Hands Plans Limited and its parent company SHP Capital Holdings Limited.
Safe Hands Plans marketed pre-paid funeral plans, where customers paid instalments for plans priced up to £4,000, so that funds would be available towards the costs of funerals. Approximately 46,000 plan holders had paid toward funeral plans before the company collapsed in March 2022.
Today, Nick Ephgrave QPM, director of the SFO, has sent notices to stockbrokers and financial institutions requesting information for its investigation. This follows similar requests made to UK banks and other potential witnesses issued last month. Non-compliance with these notices is a criminal offence.
Ephgrave said: “Thousands of individuals from all over the UK have lost the peace and security they sought after being sold a product on the basis it would help reduce the burden on their loved ones upon their death. Today, we have taken another significant step in pursuing our criminal investigation into Safe Hands Plans.”
The SFO’s criminal investigation is pursuing various lines of enquiry and may result in a criminal prosecution, which the SFO would then conduct using its powers as a prosecuting authority.
Members of the public who have been affected by the collapse of Safe Hands Plans are advised to continue liaising with Safe Hands’ administrators FRP Advisory.
Directors should be ‘held to account’
James Daley, managing director of Fairer Finance, said: “It’s good news that the Serious Fraud Office has launched a full criminal investigation into Safe Hands. It’s important that the directors are held to account for the failures which left 46,000 elderly customers out of pocket – and that any criminal activity is prosecuted.
“However, criminal convictions are unlikely to lead to the return of the millions of pounds that were lost. It’s important that there is also an investigation into the failures of government and the regulator to prevent the losses at Safe Hands. Both the Treasury and FCA were alerted to concerns about the safety of Safe Hands customers’ money in 2017 – and if there had been intervention at that early stage, it’s unlikely the sale to SHP and the alleged fraud that followed would ever have taken place.
“We urge the Treasury Select Committee to launch an inquiry – and believe the government should be working with the funeral industry to ensure that Safe Hands customers get the funerals that they paid for.”
