Independent funeral directors (UK) playbook · 12 jobs

AI for independent funeral directors: 12 jobs to hand to AI this week (price lists and paperwork only, never for bereaved families)

This page is for the funeral director's own paperwork, not for bereaved families. The AI does not advise anyone who is bereaved, does not write condolence, sympathy, pastoral, religious or ceremony wording, announcements or obituaries, and does not decide anything about the care of a deceased person. Nothing about a deceased person or a family goes into an AI tool: no names, addresses, dates or causes of death, ages or case details. Each job uses only your firm's own prices, headings and published documents, with blanks you fill in by hand afterwards. It also makes no legal, financial or regulatory judgement: it does not say whether your price list, register or terms comply with the CMA Order, whether a payment is material, whether a funeral plan can be mentioned, or whether anything is fair. You check against the full Order text and the CMA's Explanatory Note, and ask the CMA, your solicitor or the FCA-authorised provider where you are unsure. The CMA Order covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; Scotland also has a statutory Code of Practice and inspections, and England, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have statutory regulation of funeral directors, though the government announced work on it on 31 July 2026. The evidence for these jobs is mainly the CMA's own guidance and a few owners' submissions from 2018 to 2021, so it shows the paperwork burden more than it shows what anyone would pay for help.

Job 1 of 12ChatGPTGemini

Match your own fee list to the CMA Standardised Price List template and spot the gaps

Every funeral director has to fill the CMA's template without changing its terms or structure, and the template is rigid: six separately priced attended-funeral items that must add up to the total, with every price above £0. The AI cannot decide your prices or say if the finished list complies, and it must not do the sums. What it can do is line up your own fee list against the template's line names and show where nothing matches or two items might, so you fill the template yourself with fewer mistakes.

Time: About 45 minutes the first time, 10 minutes for a later updateCost: free tools work

A free AI chat tool, then your own word processor or spreadsheet (no family or deceased details ever go into the AI tool)

Steps

  1. Download the CMA template (English; the CMA also publishes a Welsh-language version) and open it in your word processor. Leave the CMA's wording as it is: you only fill the gaps and make the changes that Part B of Schedule 1 to the Order describes. Copy the template's line names (not your prices yet) into a plain list.
  2. Write your own fee list under your own headings, one price per line, typed by you from your price schedule. Use no family, deceased or case details: only fees such as 'professional service charge', 'coffin (describe it)', 'hearse', 'additional mileage per mile'.
  3. Paste both lists into the prompt below. The AI returns a table with one row per template line: the template line copied exactly, which of your fee-list items seems to match, your amount exactly as you typed it, and a 'gap or doubt' note. It must not reword the template or add anything up.
  4. Settle every 'no match' and every doubt yourself from your own price schedule. Where your firm does not offer something, the template's own 'Not offered' option exists for you to use as the Order describes; check how in Part B of Schedule 1 rather than relying on the AI.
  5. In a spreadsheet, add up the six attended-funeral items yourself and compare the result with the attended total on the template. Check every price is above £0. Then type the amounts into the CMA template yourself, export a PDF titled 'Standardised Price List', and compare the finished PDF with the CMA download word for word.
  6. Save a dated copy. When your prices change, repeat from step 2 with only the changed lines, and update the web page, the poster and the window copy together.

The exact prompt

Copy, paste, then fill in the [brackets]
I run an independent funeral director's in the UK. I am filling in the CMA's Standardised Price List template. I will paste (A) the template's own line names, copied from the CMA template, and (B) my own fee list, typed from my price schedule.

Task: produce one table with these columns: (1) template line, copied exactly with no rewording; (2) the item in my fee list that seems to match; (3) my amount, exactly as I typed it; (4) gap or doubt. Write 'no match' if nothing in my list fits, and 'two possible matches: [list them]' if more than one could fit. Do not choose between them.

Do not change the template wording. Do not add up, subtract or compare any amounts. Do not say whether my price list complies with the CMA Order. After the table, list the questions I should answer myself, using only the line names I pasted.

RULES FOR THIS CHAT: I will give you only my firm's own prices, headings and published documents. I have not included, and will not include, any name, address, date or cause of death, age, relationship or other detail about any deceased person, family or customer. Do not ask for any, and do not invent any: use the blanks I give you. Do not write any sympathy, condolence, pastoral, religious or ceremony wording, and do not give advice to anyone who is bereaved. Do not tell me whether anything complies with the law, the CMA Order or any code, or whether anything is lawful or fair. Do not do any arithmetic: leave every amount exactly as I typed it. If something is unclear, write [FOR THE DIRECTOR TO DECIDE] instead of guessing.

(A) TEMPLATE LINE NAMES: [PASTE THE LINE NAMES FROM THE CMA TEMPLATE]
(B) MY FEE LIST: [PASTE YOUR FEE LIST: ITEM, AMOUNT]

✓ Check before you send

  • Compare your finished Standardised Price List with the CMA template word for word. The Order requires the exact terms and structure, and a change the AI made silently is the likeliest error.
  • Add up the six attended-funeral items yourself and compare with the attended total; check every one of the six prices is above £0, as the CMA's guidance and paragraph 26 of the Explanatory Note say.
  • Read Article 3 and Part B of Schedule 1 of the Order and paragraphs 22 to 31 of the Explanatory Note yourself. The AI has not told you that your list complies, and nobody here has.
  • Check that the PDF is titled 'Standardised Price List' and sits on a page no more than one click from your homepage (Article 3(7)).
  • Look back at the chat: it should contain only fees and template headings, nothing about any family or any deceased person.

UK notes extra

Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑
Job 2 of 12ChatGPTGemini

Turn crematorium and cemetery price notices into one fee table you can keep up to date

Each local crematorium sends its price information and later changes, and each cemetery has its own fee sheet, so the funeral director keeps a growing pile of different layouts. One owner told the CMA in 2020 that this was too complex to publish simply. A single table with the same columns for every crematorium, plus a dated change log, makes it quicker to see what is missing or has changed. The AI only re-lays out the operator's published figures. It does not decide what the Order requires or what the typical local fee is.

Time: About 1 hour to set up, 15 minutes per later changeCost: free tools work

A free AI chat tool, then your own word processor or spreadsheet (no family or deceased details ever go into the AI tool)

Steps

  1. Collect the latest price information each local crematorium operator sent you, and the published fee sheet for each cemetery you use. These are the operators' own public price documents: remove anything that mentions a family or a deceased person before pasting.
  2. Paste one operator's notice at a time into the prompt below. The AI returns a standard table row: standard fee attended service, unattended service and reduced fee attended service if offered, what is included and excluded, permitted time, weekend or time-of-day charges, overrun charges, optional extras, each copied as stated. Anything the notice does not state is marked 'not stated in the notice'.
  3. Add two columns yourself, 'date notice received' and 'date new prices take effect'. Check each operator's notice against Article 8(5) and (6) of the Order, which list what the price information has to contain, and ask the operator for anything missing.
  4. For the cremation and burial fee ranges on the Standardised Price List, you decide the range and how to word it from the figures in your table; the AI does not choose a 'typical' fee.
  5. Update the poster, the folder, the Additional Options Price List where it applies and the website page together, keep the previous version dated, and note the date you updated each.

The exact prompt

Copy, paste, then fill in the [brackets]
I run an independent funeral director's in the UK. Below is one price notice from a local crematorium operator (or one cemetery fee sheet), copied from the operator's own document. It contains no personal details.

Task: turn it into one row of a standard table with these columns, copying the operator's figures and wording exactly: operator name; standard fee attended service; unattended service (if the notice has one); reduced fee attended service (if the notice has one); what is included; what is excluded; permitted time and whether it includes gathering and leaving time; extra charges for particular days or times; charge for overrunning or late arrival; optional extras with their individual prices; date the notice says the prices take effect. If the notice does not state something, write 'not stated in the notice'.

Do not add, total or compare any amounts. Do not decide what a typical fee is. Do not say whether the notice meets any legal requirement or whether I must display or change anything. After the row, list the items that are 'not stated in the notice' so I can ask the operator.

RULES FOR THIS CHAT: I will give you only my firm's own prices, headings and published documents. I have not included, and will not include, any name, address, date or cause of death, age, relationship or other detail about any deceased person, family or customer. Do not ask for any, and do not invent any: use the blanks I give you. Do not write any sympathy, condolence, pastoral, religious or ceremony wording, and do not give advice to anyone who is bereaved. Do not tell me whether anything complies with the law, the CMA Order or any code, or whether anything is lawful or fair. Do not do any arithmetic: leave every amount exactly as I typed it. If something is unclear, write [FOR THE DIRECTOR TO DECIDE] instead of guessing.

NOTICE: [PASTE THE OPERATOR'S PRICE INFORMATION]

✓ Check before you send

  • Check every figure and condition in the table against the operator's own document, one line at a time.
  • Compare each operator's notice against the list in Article 8(5) and (6) of the Order yourself, and ask the operator for anything missing. The AI has not checked it.
  • Make sure the 'date prices take effect' is from the notice, not worked out by the AI. Read Article 3(1)(c) and Article 8(1) of the Order yourself for what you must display and when.
  • Check that the cremation and burial ranges on your Standardised Price List are worded and chosen by you from your own table.
  • Confirm no family or deceased details went into the chat.

UK notes extra

Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑
Job 3 of 12ChatGPTGemini

Turn your own description of what each charge covers into a short, plain-English price explainer

A price list shows numbers, and families often find the split between the funeral director's charges and the fees paid to others (cremation or burial fees, doctors' fees where they apply, the officiant) hard to follow. Two owners told the CMA that third-party costs and like-for-like comparison are hard for families. A short page that sets out your own explanation in plain language can save repeat explaining. The AI only tidies your own written description. It does not advise anyone, recommend a funeral, compare you with other firms or comment on what a family should choose.

Time: About 40 minutesCost: free tools work

A free AI chat tool, then your own word processor or spreadsheet (no family or deceased details ever go into the AI tool)

Steps

  1. Write a plain paragraph for each of your own charges in your own words: what the charge covers, and what is done for it. Take it from your Standardised Price List and Additional Options Price List. No family or case details.
  2. Write a short list of the costs that are paid to others and sit on top of your charges: for example the cremation or burial fee, doctors' fees where they apply, an officiant, flowers. Say who sets each one if you know. Do not describe what any family should do.
  3. Paste your own text into the prompt. The AI returns the same content in plain English with short headings and no new claims. It must not add anything about what families should choose, any reassurance or any sympathy wording.
  4. Read the result against your price lists. Delete any sentence you did not write or cannot back. Add, in your own words, any introduction you want; leave human wording to yourself.
  5. Publish it near the price lists (site page and a printed sheet) and send it to a family only if you would send it to any enquirer. Review it whenever your charges change.

The exact prompt

Copy, paste, then fill in the [brackets]
I run an independent funeral director's in the UK. Below is my own written description of what each of my charges covers, and of the costs paid to others that sit on top. It contains no personal or case details.

Task: rewrite it in clear, plain English for a public price-explainer page. Keep every fact exactly as I wrote it, in the same order, with a short heading for each charge. Keep sentences short. Do not add any fact, price, reassurance, recommendation or comparison. Do not suggest what a family should choose. Do not write an introduction or closing line: I will add those myself. If something I wrote is unclear, mark it [FOR THE DIRECTOR TO DECIDE].

RULES FOR THIS CHAT: I will give you only my firm's own prices, headings and published documents. I have not included, and will not include, any name, address, date or cause of death, age, relationship or other detail about any deceased person, family or customer. Do not ask for any, and do not invent any: use the blanks I give you. Do not write any sympathy, condolence, pastoral, religious or ceremony wording, and do not give advice to anyone who is bereaved. Do not tell me whether anything complies with the law, the CMA Order or any code, or whether anything is lawful or fair. Do not do any arithmetic: leave every amount exactly as I typed it. If something is unclear, write [FOR THE DIRECTOR TO DECIDE] instead of guessing.

MY DESCRIPTION: [PASTE YOUR OWN DESCRIPTION OF EACH CHARGE AND OF THIRD-PARTY COSTS]

✓ Check before you send

  • Read the result against your Standardised Price List and Additional Options Price List: every item and figure must match, with nothing added by the AI.
  • Delete any sentence that gives advice, reassurance or a recommendation to a family.
  • Ask someone who has not seen your price list whether the page makes sense; fix the unclear lines yourself.
  • Check the explainer does not contradict the Standardised Price List template wording, which you may not change.
  • Confirm nothing about any family or deceased person went into the chat.

UK notes extra

Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑

9 more jobs in the full independent funeral directors (uk) playbook

Here is what each one covers. Open any job to see what is inside.

The full playbook

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Questions independent funeral directors (uk) ask

Can AI tell me whether my price list or website meets the CMA Order?

No. It cannot say whether anything complies with the CMA Funerals Market Investigation Order 2021, whether a payment is material or whether a funeral plan can be mentioned. You check against the full Order and the CMA's own guidance, and ask the CMA, your solicitor or your funeral plan provider. AI lays out your own prices and published documents as drafts for you to check.

Is it safe to put details about a family or a deceased person into AI?

No. Nothing about a deceased person or a family should go into an AI tool: no names, addresses, dates, causes of death, ages or case details. Use blanks and add the details yourself afterwards. These jobs are for the director's own paperwork and are never for bereaved families.

Does this apply across the UK?

The CMA Order covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scotland also has a statutory Code of Practice and inspections, which England, Wales and Northern Ireland do not, so each job points to the right nation's page where it matters.

Privacy tip: don't paste customers' full names, addresses or other personal details into AI tools unless you need to and you've checked the tool's privacy settings.