{"id":384505,"date":"2026-01-22T16:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/384505\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T16:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:48:13","slug":"two-charged-after-collapse-of-funeral-firm-safe-hands-affected-46000-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/384505\/","title":{"rendered":"Two charged after collapse of funeral firm Safe Hands affected 46,000 people"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The Serious Fraud Office said the charges were a “critical step” in its investigations<\/p>\n

Two people have been charged following the collapse of a pre-paid funeral firm that left tens of thousands of people out of pocket.<\/p>\n

About 46,000 customers lost thousands of pounds when Safe Hands Plans Ltd collapsed in 2022 and went into administration.<\/p>\n

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged two men – Richard Wells and Neil Debenham – with conspiracy to defraud. It said Wells was the former director of SHP Capital Holdings Ltd – the parent company of Safe Hands – with Debenham described as a “fellow senior executive”.<\/p>\n

Wells and Debenham are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 5 February.<\/p>\n

The SFO said the charges of Wells, 39, residing in Spain, and Debenham, 43, of Norwich, were a “critical step” in its investigation.<\/p>\n

Emma Luxton, director of operations, added planholders were left “exposed, out of pocket and uncertain about their funeral arrangements”.<\/p>\n

Pre-paid funeral plans are designed to allow people to pay for their own funeral in advance, in order to help their families financially when they die.<\/p>\n

Since July 2022, pre-paid funeral providers have required approval to operate from the Financial Conduct Authority.<\/p>\n

Safe Hands was one of dozens of companies operating in the previously unregulated sector, and collapsed four months before the measures came in.<\/p>\n

\"Denise<\/p>\n

Overall, planholders like Denise Hudson are owed an estimated \u00a370.6m in total<\/p>\n

The administrator for Safe Hands, FRP Advisory, initially said planholders could receive repayments of between 8.5p and 12.5p for every pound they lost by June 2025.<\/p>\n

But after a six-month delay, the amount repaid to those affected by the funeral firm collapse proved to be much less – about 4p for every pound.<\/p>\n

Planholders are owed an estimated \u00a370.6m in total.<\/p>\n

Among them are Denise Hudson, from Derby, who paid nearly \u00a32,500 for a Safe Hands plan after seeing a TV advert in 2019, and was last year given a cheque for less than \u00a3100 by administrators.<\/p>\n

“That was my savings. I gave it in good faith. I actually thought what it said on the tin, it is in safe hands,” she said.<\/p>\n

Hudson told the BBC she might “frame” the cheque for \u00a396.50, using it as a reminder to keep fighting.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

David and Sandie Beatty said they were “angry” and “disappointed” when Safe Hands collapsed<\/p>\n

In 2017, Sandie and David Beatty, from Bingham in Nottinghamshire, paid Safe Hands \u00a33,395 to cover the funeral costs for the first of them to die.<\/p>\n

Sandie said they felt “angry, disappointed, sick” when the firm collapsed.<\/p>\n

Aimee Geary, an NHS worker from Anstey in Leicestershire, paid \u00a33,000 to Safe Hands in 2017.<\/p>\n

Geary said: “Other people thought I was young [to be planning my funeral]. I’m very organised, and I didn’t want anyone else to have a job when I’m not here.<\/p>\n

“It’s sad that you try to plan something and it has been taken away from you.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Aimee Geary paid \u00a33,000 for a Safe Hands plan in 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images The Serious Fraud Office said the charges were a “critical step” in its investigations Two people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-384505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}