The government provides a helpful service called “Tell us Once” that allows you to report a death to most government organisations in one go. This service is available in Southend and most other boroughs but if you are registering a death outside the Southend area the registrar will confirm whether the service is available in your area. The registrar will also give you a contact phone number for the service and a unique reference number to use either on the phone of for the Tell Us Once service online.
You have 24 days after registering a death to make use of this service.
Before using the Tell Us Once service
If you are planning to use the Tell Us Once service and you have your Unique Reference Number from the Registrar please prepare the documents and the information about the deceased listed below before you contact the service.
- Date of birth
- National Insurance number
- Driving licence number
- Vehicle registration number
- Passport number
- The name and address of their next of kin
- The name and address of any surviving spouse or civil partner
- The name, address and contact details of the person or company dealing with their estate (property, belongings and money), known as their ‘executor’ or ‘administrator’
- Details of any local council services they were getting, for example Blue Badge
- Details of any benefits or entitlements they were getting, for example State Pension
- Details of any public sector or armed forces pension schemes they were getting or paying in to
Important
Please note that you will need the permission of the next of kin, the executor, the administrator or anyone who was claiming joint benefits or entitlements with the deceased before you give their details to anyone.
The Tell Us Once service will contact the following organisations for you
- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – to deal with personal tax
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – to cancel benefits, for example Income Support
- Passport Office – to cancel a British passport
- The local council – to cancel Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, a Blue Badge, to remove the person from the electoral register and to inform council housing services
- Veterans UK – to cancel Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments
- Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) – to cancel a licence and remove the person as the keeper of up to 5 vehicles
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will contact you about the tax, benefits and entitlements of the person who died.
Tell Us Once will also contact some public sector pension schemes in order to cancel future pension payments. These include:
- Armed Forces Pension Scheme
- NHS Pension Scheme
- pension schemes for NHS staff, teachers, police and firefighters in Scotland
- My Civil Service Pension
- local authority pension schemes, except where Tell Us Once is not available
