How to Register a Death

This changed on 9 September 2024, and it catches out anyone working from older advice - including advice still being handed out in hospitals.

A doctor who treated the person fills in the medical certificate of cause of death. They can no longer give it to you. It goes instead to a Medical Examiner - a senior doctor who had no part in the person's care, and whose job is to check the stated cause of death independently.

The medical examiner's office will then telephone the next of kin. They will explain the cause of death in plain language, answer questions, and ask whether you have any concerns about the care the person received. This is a genuine opportunity, not a formality - it is the reason the system exists.

Once the medical examiner is satisfied, the certificate is sent directly to the register office, usually electronically. You will be told that you can now register. In some areas the register office telephones you to offer an appointment; in most, you book it yourself.

What this means for you: there is no certificate to collect, no form to carry, and nothing to chase. If several days pass with no word, it is reasonable to ring the hospital bereavement office or GP surgery and ask where things stand - but delay usually means the medical examiner is still waiting on records, not that you have been forgotten.

There is no medical examiner system in Scotland or Northern Ireland. See the jurisdiction sections below.

You must register the death within 5 days of the register office receiving the medical certificate - not 5 days from the date of death. Because the medical examiner controls when the certificate is sent, the clock effectively starts when you are told you can register.

If the Coroner is involved (sudden death, unexplained death, death during surgery, death in custody), the registration will be delayed until the coroner releases the body. This is not within your control, and the 5-day deadline is paused while the coroner investigates. You don't need to worry about being "late."

If you can't register within 5 days for other reasons (you're unwell, you live far away, the registrar has no appointments), call the register office and explain. They can extend the deadline.

If the death happened overseas, you do not register it with a UK register office in the usual way. Our guide on what to do when someone dies abroad explains how registration, repatriation, and UK paperwork work in that situation.

In order of priority:

1. A relative who was present at the death
2. A relative who was in attendance during the last illness
3. A relative who lives in the district where the death occurred
4. Anyone present at the death
5. The occupier of the building where the death occurred (e.g. care home manager)
6. The person arranging the funeral (but not the funeral director themselves)

In practice, it's usually the spouse, partner, or adult child. Only one person needs to attend.

You must register at the register office for the area where the death occurred - not where the person lived.

If they died in hospital in a different town from where they lived, you register in the hospital's town. If this is difficult (you don't drive, the office is far away), you can attend any register office and they'll forward the registration to the correct one - but this adds several days to the process.

Find your local register office: gov.uk/register-offices

In England and Wales, nothing is strictly required. The medical certificate is already with the register office, and the registrar takes the remaining details from you during the appointment. Anything you bring simply makes it quicker.

Bring if you have them

Not all are required, but they speed things up:

• The deceased's birth certificate
• Their marriage or civil partnership certificate
• Their NHS number or medical card
• Their driving licence or passport
• Proof of their address
• Details of any benefits or pensions they received
• The name, address, and date of birth of any surviving spouse or civil partner

The appointment lasts about 30 minutes. The registrar will ask you for:

• The deceased's full name (including maiden name if applicable)
• Their date and place of birth
• Their last address
• Their occupation (and their spouse's occupation if married)
• Their date of death and place of death
• Whether they were receiving a state pension or any benefits
• Their NHS number

The registrar will then:

1. Register the death in the official register. You'll be asked to check the entry and sign it.
2. Issue the Certificate for Burial or Cremation (the "green form"). Your funeral director needs this before the funeral can take place.
3. Offer you certified copies of the death certificate. These cost £12.50 each at the time of registration. Order at least 5. Ordering later from the General Register Office costs the same £12.50 by standard post, but takes longer (or £38.50 for the priority next-day service).
4. Give you a Tell Us Once reference number (in most areas). This lets you notify multiple government departments in one go.
5. Give you a form for the DWP to report the death for benefits purposes.

This is one of the most common questions, and the answer is: more than you think.

Many organisations will now accept a digital copy or will return the original, but some (especially banks and solicitors) still insist on a certified copy they can keep. At £12.50 each, it feels steep - but ordering extra now saves the hassle of ordering them later when it takes longer and holds everything up.

If you're going to be posting these out, Information and Documents keeps a log of which certificate went to which organisation, so you can see what's still out without digging through email.

Once registration is complete, your immediate next steps are:

1. Give the green form to the funeral director so the funeral can proceed.
2. Use Tell Us Once within 28 days (or it expires). See our Tell Us Once guide.
3. Start notifying banks and financial institutions with the death certificates.
4. Store the death certificates safely. You'll be posting them to various organisations over the coming months. Keep a record of who has which certificate.

Most of those notifications repeat the same details over and over. AfterLoss has pre-filled email and phone scripts for the banks, utilities, pensions, and the rest, so you're working from a template instead of starting fresh on every call.

The coroner (or Procurator Fiscal in Scotland) investigates deaths that are:

• Sudden or unexplained
• Caused by an accident or violence
• Related to an industrial disease
• During or after surgery or anaesthesia
• In police custody or prison
• Where no doctor who treated the person is able to certify the cause of death
• Where the medical examiner reviews the case and refers it on

If the coroner is involved:

• You cannot register the death until the coroner issues their documentation. This can take days (for a clear Post-mortem result) or months (if an Inquest is ordered).
• The coroner may issue an interim death certificate if needed for urgent purposes (e.g., insurance claims, employer notification).
• The funeral may be delayed until the post-mortem is complete. The coroner's office will keep you informed - but don't hesitate to call them if you haven't heard anything.

Once you've registered the death, these guides will help with what comes next:

• Tell Us Once: notify multiple government departments in one step
• What to Do When Someone Dies: the full checklist
• Do I Need Probate?: find out whether probate applies to your situation
• Carry the registration details into the rest of the admin with an AfterLoss case: certificates and reference numbers stay alongside everything else.