Membership terms

These are draft membership terms for SOOCH Community Membership. They are not approved. Publishing them does not open applications and does not create a contract.

SOOCH is a community-support initiative. It is not an insurance company. It is not a funeral-plan provider. This draft does not claim an authorisation, a registration, or a registration number. Those details must be added only when they are real.

SOOCH Community Membership is a way to be part of a community that helps people prepare for difficult times and supports families when they need it most.

The price is £100 per year. Creating an account, registering interest, or reading these terms does not start a membership.

Your £100 annual contribution supports SOOCH's community services. It is not held in an individual account for your funeral.

Contributions are not accumulated in a personal account and are not ring-fenced for that member’s funeral. Paying for more than one year does not create an individual funeral balance.

Membership is for the person who holds the SOOCH account. The account needs the member’s own details before an application can be made. One person does not hold a membership for someone else’s account.

The minimum age and any other eligibility rule have not been confirmed. This draft does not set them.

Membership begins only after the £100 payment is confirmed. It does not begin when an account is created, when checkout is opened, or when a browser returns to a payment page.

The start date and the end of the current year are taken from the confirmed payment period. Membership is not backdated. This draft has no waiting period after payment.

An active member can use the SOOCH member service, keep their personal SOOCH record, store important information and documents, and keep their next-of-kin and personal preferences.

If an active member dies, SOOCH may help the family with practical arrangements, using the member’s record where that is appropriate. That can include explaining recorded preferences, helping the family understand practical next steps, speaking with relevant organisations where appropriate, and helping explore burial, cremation, faith or community arrangements, or repatriation where it is requested.

This help is a reasonable effort based on the circumstances. It is not a promise that a particular provider, date, or arrangement will be available.

The member is responsible for keeping their details, next of kin, preferences, and important information reasonably up to date. SOOCH relies on what the member has recorded.

Membership is an annual recurring contribution of £100. Each year is a new membership period. The dates of that period come from the payment provider’s billing period.

A further year’s payment supports SOOCH’s community services. It does not add to a personal funeral balance.

A member may cancel renewal before the next year is taken. The membership they have already paid for stays active until the end of that period, and it will not renew. The end date is shown in the member’s membership page.

Cancellation does not delete the membership history or the member’s SOOCH record.

If a renewal payment does not succeed, the membership can be marked as needing attention. The member’s account, personal details, next of kin, preferences, important information, documents, and family records are not deleted because a payment failed.

The member can update the payment method and try again while the payment provider still allows it. A failed payment does not by itself end the SOOCH account.

When the paid period ends and membership is not renewed, the membership has ended. The person may still sign in and view or manage their SOOCH record. Ending a membership is not the same as closing the account.

The membership number, once issued, stays with that record. The member may apply again when applications are open.

SOOCH membership is not insurance or a prepaid funeral plan. Funeral, burial, cremation or repatriation costs are not guaranteed. Membership is not a guaranteed monetary benefit, and it is not money held for the member’s own funeral.

Any financial assistance is separate from membership. It is not automatically earned by paying the annual contribution. It is discretionary, it depends on the individual circumstances, and it depends on the funds and resources available at the time. It is not guaranteed.

There is no entitlement amount and no formula that turns membership payments into a grant.

Funeral directors, cemeteries, crematoria, airlines, and other providers are independent of SOOCH. Their charges are their own. SOOCH may help a family speak with them. SOOCH does not promise to pay their fees.

Practical support is a reasonable effort. It may be affected by circumstances outside SOOCH’s reasonable control, including the availability of a provider, documents, or official processes. This draft does not set a legal exclusion or a limit on liability. That needs to be reviewed before the terms are approved.

Personal information is described in the draft privacy notice. The £100 contribution is taken by Stripe. SOOCH does not collect the card number or card security code on its own pages.

SOOCH may need to update these terms before or after applications open. How a change is notified, and whether a member must accept it before the next renewal, has not been confirmed. This draft does not say that continued use is acceptance.

Questions about these terms can be sent through the contact page. A postal address and a named complaints route have not been confirmed. This draft does not name an ombudsman or a regulator.

The governing law, and which courts can hear a dispute, have not been chosen. SOOCH is being established in the United Kingdom, and England and Wales may be appropriate once the organisation’s legal form is confirmed. This draft does not make that choice.

Before these terms can be approved, a reviewer needs to confirm the legal form and address, any registration, whether an activity needs authorisation, the minimum age, how changes are notified, any cancellation right that sits alongside cancellation at the end of the paid period, the complaints route, and the governing law. This draft does not state a statutory right that has not been checked.