What happens at the death registration appointment
The appointment will last around 30 minutes.
The registrar will ask you about:
- the date and place of death
- the persons' full name and any previous names
- their usual address
- their date and place of birth
- their job
- if they were married or in civil partnership (if so, the date of birth of their partner)
- the name and job of their spouse or civil partner (if applicable)
- information about any government payments (such as pensions) they were receiving.
The information is added to the register and the entry is checked and printed off for you to sign.
Once it is completed, the green form or certificate for the burial or cremation of the body is printed.
You can take these to the funeral director yourself or the register office can scan and email these to:
- the funeral director
- crematorium or burial ground.
They'll ask you how many copies of the death certificate you need, which are £11 each and they'll print these for you.
Tell us once
The Tell Us Once service tells multiple organisations about the death. You'll still need to tell other organisations and update records.
Once the death is registered, you'll be given a Tell Us Once code and told how to use it.
Find out which organisations use Tell Us Once and which other organisations you might need to tell.
Find out more about the Tell Us Once service.
Information pack
You'll be given a pack which includes:
- a tear off slip for the deceased preference service that helps with junk mail
- copies of the death certificate
- The Green form (if you chose to take the form yourself)
- your unique ‘Tell Us Once’ code
- a copy of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) leaflet: "what to do when someone dies".