People & Leadership

How R Banks and Son Funerals Ltd supports its community

R Banks and Son Funerals Ltd runs 13 branches and 49 staff across Wigan. Carina Halliwell explains how Sage frees up the time that keeps every funeral personal.

Published 19 August, 20264 min read

Keir Thomas-Bryant

Managing 13 branches, 49 staff, and hundreds of services a month is a good challenge to have, as R Banks and Son Funerals Ltd seeks to expand.

This article discusses how the business gives its community an unparalleled and highly personal level of service, thanks to financial confidence and a trusted reputation.

Here’s what we discuss:

Consistent service and a legacy mindset
A local business like no other
A partnership built on trust
Getting time back with Sage
Final thoughts

Consistent service and a legacy mindset

R Banks was bought in the 1960s by the grandfather of Carina Halliwell, current Managing Director and employee of 23 years, who tries to keep the personal touch woven into everything the business does.

Watch the video above to hear from Carina as she explains how Sage helps free up time for the personal touch that will keep R Banks serving the community across generations to come.

This includes giving her talented staff the freedom to do what they do best, while offering consistency on a reputational and brand level.

The staff are well-known in Wigan, both familiar faces at Wigan Athletic “Lactics” matches and across other key sports, as part of their community work. Their personal relationships form the bonds that build trust in the business, but this level of reputation building and personalisation demands consistency, speed, and accuracy to be successful.

Carina recognises the growth her predecessors made: “It’s just grown and grown. I think the major growth started in 2000, we had four branches at that point, and then my dad pushed to make it bigger… That’s how we’ve ended up how we are now.”

We’ve got 49 members of staff across all the branches, and everyone works hard, everyone puts their own stamp on things but makes it R Banks.
Carina Halliwell, Managing Director, R Banks and Son Funerals Ltd

A local business like no other

Whether it’s sponsoring shirts for local football teams or arranging Wigan Athletic fans’ funerals with a full drive-by of The Brick Community Stadium, R Banks works in partnership with other local businesses to provide a complete funeral service.

The close-knit football community turns out for each other, especially for Wigan Athletic fans, according to Carina: “We’ll do the drive past [of the stadium], and generally we’ll ring the stadium and let the staff know, and sometimes they’ll bring some of the team out.

“Everybody knows everybody in the community who goes to the Latics matches, and I do think it brings people together.”

There is a protective element woven in, as Carina explains: “It’s not just about the football, it’s not just about the match days, it’s about what they put into the local community.”

A partnership built on trust

By bringing other local businesses in, the impact is felt more broadly, keeping everything centred on Wigan and helping to keep the community supported, even when it’s one of their own. This builds a trust you can’t buy with marketing campaigns or national budgets.

Hill Florists is run by Adam Hill, who took over the family business started by his mum and dad in 1977 and has known Carina most of his life.

He explains: “My dad first started working with what would be Carina’s granddad… probably 45 years ago, and we’ve worked together ever since.”

Adam reflects on what makes R Banks special: “As a family, for something as important as a funeral is going to be, you go to somebody who you trust.”

Adam knows this personally, as R Banks was the only choice to help the family when his parents passed, because of the trust they had built up over decades of working together.

On R Banks’ influence in the community, Adam continues: “People want to feel that their particular moment is important and is being dealt with individually rather than in some off-the-shelf format.”

[Sage] just really helps with the day to day, so that we can focus on the more important things.
Carina Halliwell

Getting time back with Sage

Carina has seen the team’s financial confidence and efficiency grow since using Sage HR. This is only possible when staff are not hampered by manual admin and slow access to financial data.

She compares how it used to be: “20 years ago, it took us a full day to get the payroll sorted. Now, we’ve got Sage HR, so your time sheets are automatically done, everything’s there for you, ready.”

With payroll complete in just a few hours, Carina finds it “just saves so much time!”

Any time and money saved is poured back into the business so that families “feel like they are the only family that we’re dealing with,” no matter how many funerals are taking place that day.

You know how much you’re paying every month… It works out your hours for you. It does everything. It’s phenomenal!
Carina Halliwell

Final thoughts

Asked what she’s proudest of, Carina says it’s the staff who go above and beyond for the community: “I’m proud of my staff more than anything. I’m proud of the way that we’re a whole family together.”

Choosing the right financial and HR software means that R Banks can continue to provide exceptional and memorable services for generations to come.

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Learn more about the 7-day-a-month time savings Sage Accounting can give you and gain financial confidence for the important decisions, in the Sage Accounting hub and find the plan that’s right for you.