Another blow to the victims of the Safe Hands funeral.

Around 46,000 customers of Safe Hands, the firm that botched the funeral plan, have been warned they will only get back part of the money they handed over to the company to cover their future funeral costs.

In the latest progress report released on Friday evening by FRP administrators, clients were told that a trust fund set up to pay for their funerals was running a serious deficit.

FRP said it expects to recover trust assets worth between £6.45m and £10.5m.

This compares with the cost of £70.57m to arrange all the funerals promised, equivalent to returning customers between 9p and 15p per pound.

In a memo, the administrators explained that the trust’s shortfall in finances was primarily the result of a large portion of its assets being invested offshore by TJM, an investment company that liquidated earlier this year.

Most of the £46m invested offshore is in illiquid equity investments and FRP believes it has little chance of extracting any value from them.

All funeral plan providers are now regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and customers’ money is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the event of a company’s bankruptcy.

But Safe Hands, based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, collapsed before the rules came into force.

The Mail on Sunday has led the way in exposing breaches at Safe Hands.