When you are registering a death, the registrar will either fill in the form for the Tell Us Once service or give you a unique reference number to access it online or by phone.
When you contact them, you will need to give this information about the deceased:
- Date of birth
- National Insurance number
- Driving licence number (if applicable)
- Passport number (if applicable).
You’ll also need to know:
- Any benefits or entitlements they were receiving, such as the State Pension
- Any public sector or armed forces pensions they were getting
- Any local council services they had access to, for example a Blue Badge or free public transport
- Name and address of their next of kin
- Name, address and contact details of the person or company dealing with their estate (property, belongings and money), known as the ‘executor’ or ‘administrator’.
Before you give the details of the next of kin, executor, administrator and anyone who was claiming joint benefits or entitlements with the person who died to Tell Us Once, you must have their permission.
Tell Us Once phone number
There isn’t a published phone number for the Tell Us Once service. Instead, you will be given a unique reference number by the registrar when you register a death.
Tell Us Once notifications
After you’ve sent in the details, Tell Us Once will notify:
- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – for personal tax
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
- Passport Office
- The local council: to cancel housing benefit, council tax benefit, Blue Badge, inform council
- Housing services and remove the person from the electoral register
- Public sector and armed formed pension schemes
- Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA): to cancel the person’s driving licence, but you’ll still need to send DVLA any registration certificates (V5C).
If your local register office doesn’t offer the Tell Us Once service or you choose not to use it, you’ll have to let the relevant organisations know about the death yourself.
The registrar will give you a letter and reference number to help with this.
The following organisations are not included in the Tell Us Once service and you should notify them separately.
Financial
- HMRC for business tax, corporation tax or VAT related updates
- Mortgage provider
- Banks and building societies
- Premium bond, loan or other financial organisations
- Credit card, in-store cards and other loyalty programme
Domestic
- House, car, breakdown, holiday and buildings insurance providers (car insurance policies are commonly in one name so we advise you to check before driving)
- Utility companies
- TV licence, phone and broadband providers
Personal
- Employer(s)
- Education establishments if in current term
- Professional associations
- GP, hospital, dentist, optician and anyone else providing medical care: NHS and private provider
- Charities, organisations or subscriptions the deceased made regular payments to Libraries, children’s or adult services (meals, visits etc) or other clubs
- Church, synagogue, mosque, temple or other places of worship
If the deceased has a licence for firearms, please contact the local police station.