Tell us once about a death
Tell Us Once is a service that lets you report a death to most government organisations in one go.
- Tell Us Once is a completely free service
- You do not have to use the service
- Tell Us Once - Death Notification Service video
What the Tell Us Once service does
When you Register a death your registrar will give you a telephone number which will allow you to:
- notify multiple local and national government agencies on your behalf
- It means you don't need to purchase and send copies of the death certificate to the agencies
Organisations and services Tell Us Once will contact
- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) - to deal with personal tax (you need to contact HMRC separately for business taxes, like VAT)
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) - to cancel benefits, for example Income Support, attendance allowance,
- Passport Office - to cancel a British passport
- Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) - to cancel a driving licence and to remove the person as the keeper for up to 5 vehicles
- Kirklees Council - to cancel Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, a Blue Badge, inform council housing services and remove the person from the electoral register
- Public sector or armed forces pension schemes - to stop pension payments
After your appointment
You will be given a letter that tells you:
- your Tell Us Once reference number
- how to contact Tell Us Once to notify relevant agencies
- contact details in case of any query
If you don't use the Tell Us Once Service
You will need to contact many organisations yourself if you don't use the Tell Us Once service. See What to do after someone dies for details of who and how to contact.
You can also use HMRC's bereavement tool to work out which forms to fill in and where to send them.
If you don't hear from departments
If you haven't heard from a department within 28 days please contact them directly. Contact the council
Due to the secure nature of your information, the register office will not be informed of any correspondence between you and the department.