Diversity and Inclusion Statement

My Policy

Helping make a Better World

I appreciate the importance of creating an environment in which all my colleagues, associates and clients can feel valued, included and empowered to be their best.

I recognise that the unique experiences, perspectives, and viewpoints of our various partners, associates and clients are critical to creating an atmosphere that is engaging and inspiring to everyone.

Therefore, my goal is to foster a business that is attractive to everyone no matter their background or or their requirements

I welcome clients and associates who:

Embrace different cultures, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientation
Create a work environment that fosters growth and advancement
Who will engage with my clients in a way that reflects and respects their unique perspectives and experiences.

FAQ

The Answers You Need

Why should I have a Celebrant?

Planning a ceremony requires a lot of time and headspace at a time when you may not be feeling at your best. A Celebrant can take the strain for you and help you with all the essential elements of a meaningful and comforting ceremony.

Celebrants also have enough experience at planning services to be able to give you ideas, source people and items for you and recommend the best funeral directors if needed.

Can I plan my funeral before I die?

Absolutely, in fact we encourage it. Someone once said that talking about something does not make it happen, the same is true of death, planning for it doesn't make it happen.

Whether you want to just save arguments in your family, or you know you are nearing the end of your life, or you just want to feel empowered, planning your funeral can be a fun and uplifting feeling.

Talk to me about planning your own funeral - suedearmancelebrant@gmail.com

What if I don't want a traditional funeral?

No problem at all. Increasingly people are having funerals away from churches and crematoriums. Opting instead for services or celebrations of life in pubs, golf clubs, village halls and even their own homes.

Also, people are turning to different ways to celebrate and reflect their loved one in more personalised ways. Motorbike hearses, tractors, campervans, whatever you want it is likely possible. A Star Wars themed funeral? No problem. Karaoke funeral? Why not? Truly, whatever you want is possible.

And if I don't want a funeral?

Well, that's ok too (kinda). You still have to decide what should be done with your remains - cremation or burial. Many people are now opting for what is called a Direct Cremation or Unattended Cremation or Burial. While I would never talk anyone out of this, I would talk them out of a Direct Cremation service from an online company. Your local Funeral Director can also carry out this type of funeral and is always a better option (see the bottom of this page).

If you are choosing a direct cremation due to costs, then be rest assured your local funeral director is probably the same price as that online company.

Please do remember that funerals are as much for the living as they are for the dead; people need to be able to say goodbye to someone, this is part of the grieving process. If you are determined to have a direct cremation, then consider whether you will agree to your family having a memorial service or small gathering to allow people to pay their respects. This is for them rather than for you.

How much does it cost to plan my funeral?

If you want to plan the service - music, poems, eulogy, tributes - anything that happens in the chapel, then I can come and visit you and talk about this and place it all in a pack for you; this costs £25. If you would like me to write a tribute or eulogy of your life then this is an additional £75. All of this is given to you to use as you wish and to give to your family for safekeeping. If I then officiate at your service, I give your family a £100 discount off the cost of the service. A service currently costs from £250 - with most services falling at that price. (If a longer than usual service, double funeral or other is required then it may be a higher cost).

If you wish to plan for your type of hearse, coffin, flowers etc I can talk you through the available options and once I have spent time with you recommend the best funeral director for you or your family.

Terms and Conditions for Private Clients (not via the Funeral Director)

1. Bookings are accepted in good faith, based on the information provided by the client, and are deemed to be accepted only when the deposit/booking fee is paid and acknowledged in writing.

2. Any client entering into a contract with a celebrant will have 14 calendar days in which to change their minds, and do not have to give a reason for doing so. A cancellation form will be issued on request. You do not have to use this cancellation form as long as you make clear that you are cancelling. Because the burden of proof for showing cancellation within the cancellation period rests with the client, it will be in the client’s interest to keep some record of the cancellation.The 14-day cancellation period starts the day after the contract has been signed.

3. The celebrant will start work on the ceremony immediately and although you can still change your mind about their engagement within the 14 days, you will still need to pay for any work done in that period. The celebrant can charge for any work done up to the point of cancellation.

4. Any deposit/booking fee is deducted from the final account. In the event of cancellation, it may be non-returnable - see Cancellation Charges below. The balance of the account is payable as per the terms of your contract.

5. Cancellation Charges. In the event of cancellation by the client for any reason, the following charges will apply from acceptance of a booking:

Within 14 days of issuing contract = charge for work carried out so far.
After issuing draft eulogy = 50% of fee;
1 week prior to the event = 75% of fee;
Within 48 hours prior to the service = full fee payable
Cancellations will only be accepted in writing. Regrettably, telephone cancellations will not be accepted.

Sue Dearman is Insured through The Association of Independent Celebrants

Always insured

AOIC Code of Practice

Members will always conduct ceremonies with professionalism and to the highest of standards.

Members must act in a professional manner and treat their fellow members and fellow officiants (e.g. registrars, humanist celebrants and religious officiants) with respect.

Members should not judge or give personal opinions on their own or client’s beliefs/spiritual needs.

Members should always behave in a manner that allows both the public and industries to feel secure in the profession and be able to rely on the high standard of ceremonies conducted.

Members conducting wedding ceremonies should make it explicitly clear to couples they work with, both verbally and in any contract, that they are not authorised to conduct legally binding marriages (with the exception of those who are authorised, e.g. in Jersey).

Members should not cause the AOIC to be brought into disrepute.

Members shall process all personal data received from the AOIC in accordance with all applicable data protection legislation (including but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation).

Members shall only use the client data provided by the AOIC for the purposes of contacting the client in connection with their query unless they obtain separate permission directly from the client to use their data for any other purpose (including but not limited to marketing communications). The AOIC is not and does not become party to any business or contractual relationship between a member and a client and does not mediate between members and clients in the event of any dispute arising between the parties. The AOIC’s ‘Aims & Objectives’ and ‘Code of Practice’ will be regularly reviewed and updated.

PRIVACY POLICY

Collection and Use of Personal Information

Our privacy policy is here to explain how we might use information gathered through this website.

How we use your information

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we collect personal information. It applies to information we collect about:

visitors to our websites
people who use our services, eg who subscribe to our newsletter or request a publication from us
people who notify us under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
job applicants and our current and former employees
complainants and other individuals in relation to a data protection or freedom of information complaint or enquiry

Visitors to our website

When someone visits our website we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source.

If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies

Cookies are small text files that are often placed on your computer when you browse through websites. We use cookies to help us provide our users with a better experience by, for example seeing which pages are read more than others and providing more content in that area. Cookies also help to provide certain features.

The cookies we use are ‘analytical’ cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the site when they’re using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example by making sure users are finding what they need easily.

We have audited our use of cookies and believe that they are reasonable and not intrusive. Cookies we use can never directly identify an individual user and we would not want to.

Cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.Click here for an overview of privacy at Google

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

People who use our services

We offer various services to the public. For example, we send out publications and distribute an electronic newsletter. We use a third party to deal with some publication requests, but they are only allowed to use the information to send out the publications.

We have to hold the details of the people who have requested the service in order to provide it. However, we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested and for other closely related purposes. For example, we might use information about people who have requested a publication to carry out a survey to find out if they are happy with the level of service they received. When people do subscribe to our services, they can cancel their subscription at any time and are given an easy way of doing this.

Job applicants, current and former employees

When individuals apply to work at our company, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third party, for example where we want to take up a reference or obtain a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law.

Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 12 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, it will then be destroyed or deleted. We retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.

Once a person has taken up employment with our company, we will compile a file relating to their employment. The information contained in this will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person’s employment. Once their employment with our company has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of our retention schedule and then delete it.

Complaints or queries

We try to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of our collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

Access to personal information

We try to be as open as we can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the General Data Protection Regulation. If we do hold information about you we will:

give you a description of it;
tell you why we are holding it;
tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

To make a request for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing to the address provided below.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.

If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by, once again, contacting us at the address provided below.

Disclosure of personal information

In many circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. However when we investigate a complaint, for example, we will need to share personal information with the organisation concerned and with other relevant bodies.

You can also get further information on:

agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;
circumstances where we can pass on personal data without consent for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;
our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and
how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This privacy notice was last updated on 22nd February 2024.