Tell us once about a death

British Sign Language (BSL) Tell Us Once

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

Tell Us Once will notify:

• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) - to deal with personal tax and to cancel benefits and credits, for example Child Benefit and tax credits (you need to contact HMRC separately for business taxes, like VAT)
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) - to cancel benefits and entitlements, for example Universal Credit or State Pension
• 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
• Veterans UK - to cancel or update Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments
• Public sector or armed forces pension schemes - to stop pension payments

HMRC and 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 so that they cancel future pension payments. They'll notify:

• Armed Forces Pension Scheme
• NHS Pensions for NHS staff in England and Wales
• Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme
• Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS)

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

To close or change the details of the person's financial accounts, you'll need to contact organisations like:

• banks
• mortgage providers
• insurance providers
• companies that the person had contracts with, like utility companies, landlords or housing associations
• personal or workplace pension schemes, unless they're one of the public sector pension schemes that Tell Us Once contacts

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 GOV.UK Bereavement help and support 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.