Registering a death

When to register

A death should normally be registered within 5 days.  In certain circumstances, if the death is referred to the Coroner, registration may be delayed. Wait to hear from the Coroner before going to the Register Office. He will advise you when to make an appointment to see the Registrar.

The Directgov website has lots of information to help with the registration and advice about what to do after a death.

Where to register

You should register the death with the Registrar of Births and Deaths for the area where the person died. 

If you are registering the death of someone who died in another town it is still possible for information for the registration to be given at your local Register Office.

Who can register

The following people can register a person's death:

• A relative
• someone who was with the person when they died
• someone who lives at the address where the person died
• someone who is arranging the funeral (but not the Funeral Director)

Information the registrar will need to know

Rotherham Tell Us Once Service

The Rotherham Registration Team offers an innovative service called Tell Us Once.  The service aims to reduce the number of local and central government departments that Rotherham residents have to notify when they have a bereavement.

Tell Us Once is delivered straight after a death registration, so you don't even need to leave the register office to notify key government departments of the change in your circumstances.    

The service is optional but most people who register a death choose to use Tell Us Once.  They tell us that it saves them time at a stage in their lives when they are dealing with the emotional difficulties that come with bereavement.

Tell us once can notify the following departments after you have registered a death:

• Adult services
• Attendance Allowance
• Blue Badge parking permit
• Carer's Allowance
• Child Benefit
• Child Tax Credit
• Children's services
• Council housing
• Council tax 
• Council Tax Benefit
• Disability Living Allowance
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
• Electoral services 
• Employment Support Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Incapacity Benefit
• Income Support
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Library services
• Owe payments to council
• Passport Service     
• Tax Help for Older People
• Working Tax Credit

Tell Us Once will pass details to these departments on your behalf; the departments you have chosen to notify will contact you directly if they need any more information to process your change in circumstances.    

When you call the Register Office to register a death the Registration Officer will give you information about Tell Us Once.

You will be interviewed in private by a Registrar and asked personal questions about the person who has died. You will need to know: -

• The date of their death
• Where they died
• Their full name
• Their date of birth
• Where they were born
• Their occupation
• Their address

If married or widowed, their husband/wife's full name and present or last occupation plus their date of birth.

If the person who has died was a married woman, the Registrar will also need to know her maiden surname

Certificates/Documents/Cost

Documents you will need to bring

If the doctor who was treating the deceased has issued a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death you must bring this with you. If you are able to bring the Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate and Medical Card this will help, but these documents are not essential.

Documents you will be given

Once the death has been registered you will be issued with a form which will allow you to make the funeral arrangements (the 'green form'). This is for the Funeral Director and is issued free of charge.

You will also be given another free form for the Social Security Office. This is to deal with the pension or other state benefits which the person may have received.

Death certificates

There is no charge for registering a death, but you may need copy death certificates. The kind of things these may be required for are:

• Bank and Building Society Accounts
• Insurance Companies
• Probate or Letters of Administration
• Solicitor
• Stocks and Shares
• Premium Bonds
• Private/Works Pension

There is a fee of £3.50 for each certificate issued at the time of registration> Certificates issued at a later date will cost £7 or £9.

There may be many other reasons why you will be asked to produce a death certificate.

If you do not purchase enough certificates you can buy more at a later date, but there may be additional cost if more than a month has elapsed.

Death Certificates are protected under Crown Copyright and should not be photocopied.

Last updated 20/12/2011