Membership terms

SOOCH is a community of people supporting one another through difficult times. When a member or their family needs help, SOOCH and its community will try to provide practical support, guidance and community assistance wherever reasonably possible.

SOOCH Community Membership is a community-support membership. It is not an insurance company. It is not a funeral-plan provider. Membership is not funeral insurance, a prepaid funeral plan, a savings account, or a fixed cash benefit.

SOOCH Community Membership is not insurance or a funeral plan. Membership contributions do not guarantee that SOOCH will pay funeral, burial, cremation, repatriation or other costs. The support available will depend on the circumstances and the resources available at the time.

The person who pays for their own membership must be the account holder, and must be 18 or over.

A person under 18 may be recorded as a family or dependant record where SOOCH provides that record. They cannot buy their own SOOCH Community Membership. Dependent children under 18 are not charged a joining contribution or an annual contribution.

One adult does not hold a membership for someone else’s separate account. Creating an account, or reading these terms, does not start a membership.

The joining contribution for the first adult is £100. A spouse or partner joining with the member pays a joining contribution of £50. Dependent children under 18 are free.

After joining, the annual contribution is £30 per year for each adult aged 18 or over. Dependent children under 18 remain free. The £30 contribution is not a payment for a funeral.

These contributions support SOOCH's community services. It is not held in an individual account for your funeral. Contributions are not accumulated as a personal balance and are not ring-fenced for that member’s funeral. Paying for more than one year does not create an individual funeral balance.

Payment may initially be made by bank transfer to the account published on the community membership page, or by another method SOOCH has confirmed. Sending a payment does not by itself start or renew a membership.

Membership begins only when SOOCH confirms the applicable contribution and the membership requirements have been completed. It does not begin when an account is created, when a bank transfer is sent, or when a browser returns from a payment page.

The current membership does not renew automatically. There is no automatic charge for a further year.

A later adult contribution can be arranged before the membership ends. That later contribution, once confirmed, is £30 per year for each adult aged 18 or over. SOOCH does not treat a payment as received until it has confirmed it.

The dates of each confirmed period come from the contribution SOOCH has confirmed.

Your SOOCH membership gives you access to the member services SOOCH makes available under these terms. That access may include your personal SOOCH record, family and dependant records where you choose to add them, storage for important information and documents, next-of-kin information, funeral wishes and preferences, a way to report a death, access to SOOCH bereavement-support processes, and practical guidance and signposting.

SOOCH may try to help with understanding what needs to be done after a death, practical arrangements, finding relevant services and organisations, community support, bereavement guidance, and other appropriate support depending on the circumstances.

This is access to those services, and a reasonable effort to help. It is not a promise that a particular service, provider, date, or amount will be available.

Family and dependant records are administrative and support records linked to the member’s own account.

Adding a spouse, partner, child, or any other person does not automatically make that person a paid SOOCH member. It does not create a separate membership. It does not guarantee them financial assistance. It does not make them an insurance beneficiary.

A spouse or partner who joins with the member may pay the £50 joining contribution. That contribution does not by itself create a membership until SOOCH confirms it and the membership requirements have been completed.

An adult who wants their own membership needs their own account. The first adult’s joining contribution is £100.

If a member dies, SOOCH may use the member’s record to help the family with practical arrangements. That can include explaining recorded wishes, next-of-kin information, practical next steps, and signposting to relevant organisations.

Practical help is a reasonable effort in the circumstances. Funeral directors, cemeteries, crematoria, airlines, and other providers are independent of SOOCH. SOOCH does not promise to pay their fees.

Membership services are separate from any additional assistance. Paying a membership contribution does not mean that a funeral, burial, cremation, or repatriation will be paid.

You may also be considered for additional community support under SOOCH's programme rules, eligibility criteria and available resources.

Any financial assistance is separate from membership. It is not automatically earned by paying the annual contribution. It is discretionary, it depends on the circumstances, and it depends on the funds and resources available at the time. It is not guaranteed. There is no fixed cash amount and no formula that turns membership payments into a grant.

Community assistance is not insurance. It is not guaranteed funeral-cost cover.

You may cancel within 14 days of your membership beginning and ask for a full refund of the initial joining contribution. For the first adult, that contribution is £100. For a spouse or partner joining with the member, that contribution is £50. Membership begins when SOOCH confirms that contribution.

Send the request through the contact page. The website does not refund the payment automatically.

After the initial 14 days, there is no automatic renewal charge to cancel. The membership continues until the end of the period SOOCH has already confirmed, unless SOOCH suspends or terminates it under these terms.

No automatic pro-rata refund is promised after the initial 14 days. A refund may still be considered for an error, a duplicate payment, exceptional circumstances, or where the law requires it. That decision is not taken automatically on the website.

Ending the membership period does not delete the membership number, the payment history, or the SOOCH record.

If SOOCH cannot confirm a contribution, membership for that period does not begin or continue. These terms do not add a period of extra time after an unconfirmed payment.

An unconfirmed payment does not delete the account, the membership history, or the information already recorded.

SOOCH may suspend or end a membership for a legitimate reason. Those reasons include fraud, deliberate misuse, a serious breach of these terms, abusive or threatening behaviour, a safeguarding concern, and a legal or regulatory requirement.

Where it is reasonably possible, SOOCH will tell the member the reason. Ending a membership for one of these reasons is not a general right to end it without a reason.

Any refund after a suspension or termination depends on the circumstances, these terms, and the law that applies. It is not automatic.

Once SOOCH is told, and has reasonably verified, that a member has died, SOOCH may stop further membership contributions from being recorded for that member.

The membership and account record may be kept where that is needed for bereavement support, administration, a legal obligation, safeguarding, or a financial or audit record.

The death of a member does not automatically create a financial benefit, a funeral payment, or a repatriation payment.

Personal information is described in the privacy notice. The member is responsible for keeping their own details, next of kin, preferences, and important information reasonably up to date.

When you accept these terms, SOOCH keeps the version, the date and time, and the text of the version you accepted. A later change to the website does not rewrite that accepted text.

SOOCH may publish a later version of these terms. The version you accepted remains the version recorded for that acceptance. A new version does not replace that text.

Using SOOCH does not by itself mean that you accept a later version. If a later version needs a new acceptance, that version will say so.

Questions about these terms, and requests to cancel or to be considered for a refund, can be sent through the contact page.