Tell Us Once

Losing a loved one is hard enough without the stress of paperwork and telephone calls to make. Research has shown that the average bereaved family contacts central and local government 7 or 8 times following bereavement. TELL US ONCE aims to ease this burden by allowing you to tell multiple government agencies about a death, at the same time.

Shortly, the majority of local authorities across UK will be introducing this national service which we hope will make things easier for you.

The new service, which will be offered to you by your local registration service at your death registration appointment, will mean that you can just tell us once and we will in turn, on your behalf, notify organisations that participate in the service.

Who can you notify for me?

We will be able to inform the following organisations for you:

Local Councils

(if the deceased lived in a participating council area)

• Housing Benefit Office
• Council Tax Payments and Benefits Office
• Council Housing
• Libraries
• Blue Badges - Please bring the Blue Badge with you if available.
• Adult Services
• Children's Services
• Collection of payments for Council Services
• Electoral services

Identity and Passport Service

• Passport Cancellation

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

• Driving Licence Cancellation

Department for Work and Pensions

• Pension, Disability and Carers Service
• Jobcentre Plus
• Overseas Health Team

Ministry of Defence, Service Personnel and Veterans Agency

• War Pensions Scheme

HM Revenue and Customs

• Child Benefit
• Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit
• Personal Taxation

How does it work?

When you make an appointment to register a death in any of the UK Register Offices, you will be asked where the deceased lived. If they resided in a participating County, the Tell Us Once service will be offered to you so that you can decide whether you would like to use it.

What do I need to bring with me?

If you do wish to use the service, it would be useful to bring the following information with you:

• Deceased's National Insurance Number
• Deceased's surviving husband, wife or civil partner's National Insurance Number OR next of kin's National Insurance Number
• Next of kin's name, address and telephone number
• Information about any benefits and services the deceased may have been receiving (e.g. state pension, income support, housing benefit, library card etc)
• Name and Address of the person dealing with the deceased's estate (if different)
• Driving Licence (if held), or Driver Number if licence not available
• Passport (if held) or Passport Number if passport not available
• Blue Badge (if held)

If you are unable to locate any of this information in time for your appointment, please don't worry, you will still be able to use the service later by telephone. The registrar will give you a unique reference number and a telephone number to call.

How much does the service cost?

There is no charge for using the Tell Us Once service. This is a service that your local district and borough councils have worked together on in order to offer an additional service to help you at a difficult time.

Can you do this for everyone?

The Tell Us Once service is determined by the usual address of the deceased. You will only be able to use the Tell Us Once service if the deceased's local borough or district councils are registered on the system. Your registrar will explain at your appointment how much we can do for you. The Tell Us Once service is expanding all the time and we hope that soon, we will be able to offer the whole service to everyone, but at the moment, this may not be possible for every death registered in the UK.

I haven't got time to find all the documents I need. Does this mean I can't use Tell Us Once service?

We appreciate that you may not be able to find and bring everything you need in time for your appointment. Just bring anything you are able to locate and we will do what we can for you at the registration. If you later have the information required, your registrar will give you a letter with details of who to contact to pass on the additional information. Please do not return to the register office where the appointment took place, as we are unable to help you - you will need to use the telephone service.

How will I know who has been told?

When you leave your appointment, you will be given a letter that details your reference number and which departments we have notified on your behalf, together with contact details in case of any query. Those departments may contact you separately to confirm that the relevant processing has been completed.

I am not sure if I wish to use the service. Can I come back later to do it if I change my mind?

We will register the deceased on the Tell Us Once system at your appointment, even if you do not take up the service at that time - this will then enable you to use the Tell Us Once telephone service at a later date, should you change your mind. This initial registering must be done by the registrar at your appointment, we are not able to do it at a later stage. But don't worry, if the deceased has been registered on the system and you choose never to use the whole service, the information will not be shared with anyone.

How do you treat the information we give to you?

We will treat all your information securely. The organisations that we give your information to will use it to update their records, but only as the law allows. The Tell Us Once service is a project between County Council, District and Borough Councils and departments across government.

I used the Tell Us Once Service but have not heard from all of the departments you notified. What should I do?

If you have not heard from a department within 28 days, you may contact theTell Us Once telephone service who will follow it up on your behalf. Due to the secure nature in which your information is treated, the register office will not be informed of any correspondence between you and the department - it is a one way process. We will unfortunately not be able to contact them for you.