When someone dies, registering the death is one of the first formal steps that must be taken, and it has a strict deadline. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland a death must be registered within five days, and in Scotland within eight days. The funeral cannot usually go ahead until the death has been registered, because the registrar issues the certificate that allows a burial or cremation to take place.

The process can feel daunting at a time when you are grieving, but it is a straightforward sequence: the death is confirmed and checked by a medical examiner, you book an appointment at a register office, you give the registrar details about the person who died, and you leave with the documents the funeral director needs. This guide explains each step, what to take with you, what it costs, what happens if a coroner is involved, and how the Tell Us Once service can save you from notifying government departments one by one.

What to do first when someone dies

What you should do first depends on where and how the person died. If someone dies at home and the death was expected, call their GP practice and the nearest relative if that is not you. A doctor will confirm the death and the GP practice will explain what happens next. If someone dies in hospital, a care home or a hospice, the staff there will guide you and will contact the doctor.

If a death is sudden or unexpected, or someone dies in circumstances that are not clear, call 999 immediately and explain what has happened. Do not move the person unless you are told to. The emergency services will arrange for a doctor to attend, and the death may be reported to a coroner.

Once the death has been confirmed, the doctor contacts the medical examiner. This can take a few days, so do not expect to register the death on the same day. The medical examiner is a senior doctor who was not involved in the care of the person who died. Their job is to check that the cause of death is accurate. The medical examiner’s office will contact you to explain the cause of death and to answer any questions you have about it or about the healthcare provided before the death. Speaking to them is voluntary, and you do not have to do so if you would rather not.

The medical examiner and the medical certificate

Since the death certification reforms that became law on 9 September 2024, every death in England and Wales is referred to a medical examiner. The medical examiner reviews the cause of death, speaks to the family if they wish, and sends the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death to the register office electronically. You do not normally need to bring the medical certificate to your appointment, because the register office will already have it.

You must wait for the medical examiner’s office to confirm that you can register the death before you book your appointment. The five-day clock runs from the date you get that confirmation, not from the date of death, and it includes weekends and bank holidays. If you cannot register within five days, GOV.UK says you must tell the register office immediately. Failing to register a death is a criminal offence, but registrars are understanding about delays that are reported in advance. If a coroner is involved, the five-day rule does not apply and you cannot register the death until the coroner has finished their work.

Who can register a death?

A relative should normally register the death. If a relative cannot do it, someone else can, such as the person who was present at the death, the person arranging the funeral, or someone from the hospital or care home where the person died. GOV.UK’s register-a-death service sets out exactly who can register in your circumstances, so check there if you are unsure whether you are entitled to do it.

You register the death at a register office, and it is best to use the one in the area where the person died, because you will usually be given the documents you need on the same day. You can use any register office, but if you register elsewhere the certificates may have to be posted to you a few days later. Most register offices ask you to book an appointment rather than turn up, so find your local register office on GOV.UK and book first. The appointment usually takes around 30 minutes, and you should not have to fill in any paperwork yourself, as the registrar enters your answers into their computer.

What information do you need?

The registrar will ask you for details about the person who died. It helps to have these ready before the appointment. You will be asked for their full name, including any other names they used, such as a maiden name, the date and place of their birth, the date and place of their death, their occupation, and their home address. You may also be asked for the full name, date of birth and occupation of their spouse or civil partner, if they had one, and whether they were receiving a pension or benefits.

You should also bring proof of your own identity. Two documents are usually accepted, such as a passport, a driving licence, a recent utility bill, a council tax bill or a medical prescription. If you have the person’s National Insurance number, passport number, driving licence number or NHS number, take those too, as they can help the registrar and the Tell Us Once service match records, but the registration can still go ahead without them.

What documents will you get?

At the end of the appointment, the registrar will give you a certificate for burial or cremation, often called the “green form”. This is free. Give it to your funeral director, crematorium or burial authority, because the funeral cannot take place until they have it. In some areas the form is sent electronically to the funeral director instead.

You will also be able to buy certified copies of the death certificate, which prove that the death has been registered. These cost £12.50 each in England and Wales. It is worth ordering several copies at the appointment, because banks, insurers, pension providers and solicitors often each need an original certified copy, and ordering more later can cost more and take longer. If the death has been reported to a coroner and an inquest is needed, you cannot register the death until the inquest is over, but you can ask the coroner for an interim death certificate in the meantime, which you can use for probate and for Tell Us Once.

What happens if a coroner is involved?

A death is reported to a coroner when the cause is unknown, or the death was sudden, violent or unnatural, or the person died in prison or police custody. The coroner will try to find out how the person died and will release the body for cremation or burial once their examinations are complete. You cannot object to a coroner’s post-mortem, but if you ask, the coroner must tell you and the person’s GP when and where the examination will take place.

If the coroner decides the cause of death is clear, they will issue a certificate to the registrar saying that an inquest is not needed, and the registrar will contact you to arrange registration. If a post-mortem is needed, it can take place in a hospital or a mortuary. If an inquest is required, the coroner must hold one when the cause of death is still unknown, when the person might have died a violent or unnatural death, or when they died in prison or police custody. The coroner will send a form, known as Form CN2, to the registrar stating the cause of death, and a “Certificate of Coroner – form Cremation 6” if the body is to be cremated. Free, independent support is available from the Coroners’ Courts Support Service on 0300 111 2141.

Tell Us Once: notifying government in one go

After registering the death, you can use the Tell Us Once service to report it to most government organisations in a single step, instead of contacting each one separately. The service can notify HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Passport Office, the DVLA, the local council and other departments. You can use it if the person who died normally lived in England, Scotland or Wales, or was abroad temporarily, for example on holiday or a business trip. You cannot use it if they were living abroad permanently.

The registrar will either complete Tell Us Once with you or give you a unique reference number so you can use the service yourself online or by phone. You must register the death before you use it, and you have 28 days from the date the registrar gives you the reference number. To use the service you will need the surname of the person who died, the date they died and the Tell Us Once reference number. If they had them, you may also need their UK passport number and place of birth, their driving licence number, the registration numbers of any vehicles they owned, their Blue Badge number, and their National Insurance number if they were in a public-sector pension scheme.

Tell Us Once can only be used once, so choose carefully which organisations it should notify. If you need to tell a government organisation after you have used it, you will have to contact that organisation directly. The service also does not cover private organisations, so you will still need to tell the bank, the pension provider, the insurer, the mortgage lender and utility companies yourself.

If someone dies abroad

If someone dies abroad, you must register the death with the local authorities in the country where the person died, and you will be given a local death certificate. That certificate is accepted in the UK, although it will need to be translated by an approved translator if it is not in English. You can also choose to register the death with the UK authorities if you want a record of the death held in the UK as well, provided the death happened on or after 1 January 1983. It costs £150 to register a death with the UK authorities, and a consular death registration certificate costs £50 per certificate.

To bring the body home, you must get a certified English translation of the death certificate, get permission to remove the body from a coroner or equivalent in the country where the person died, and tell a coroner in England or Wales if the cause of death was unknown, violent or unnatural. Once the body is home, take the death certificate to the register office in the area where the funeral is taking place. As the death has already been registered abroad, the registrar will give you a “certificate of no liability to register”, which you give to the funeral director so the funeral can go ahead.

After registration: funerals, benefits and the estate

Once the death is registered and you have the green form, the funeral can be arranged, either through a funeral director or by arranging it yourself. If you need help paying for a funeral, GOV.UK sets out the support that may be available, including help with funeral costs for people on certain benefits and help paying for a child’s funeral.

You should also check whether you can get bereavement benefits. These include Bereavement Support Payment if your partner has died, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay and Leave if your child has died or you have had a stillbirth, and Guardian’s Allowance if you are bringing up a child whose parents have died. Your own tax, benefit claims and pension may change depending on your relationship with the person who died, so tell the offices that pay you as soon as you can.

Finally, the estate will need to be dealt with. That means estimating the value of the person’s property, money and possessions, checking whether any Inheritance Tax is due, and applying for probate if it is needed before the estate can be distributed under the will or the law. Probate is a separate process from registering the death, and GOV.UK has step-by-step guidance for each stage.

Losing someone is hard enough without wrestling with official processes at the same time. The key points to remember are simple: wait for the medical examiner’s confirmation, register within five days in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or eight days in Scotland, book an appointment at the register office where the person died, buy enough certified copies of the death certificate, and use Tell Us Once within 28 days. If anything about the process is unclear, your register office can advise you, and the GOV.UK step-by-step guide on what to do when someone dies is kept up to date with the latest rules.