Tell Us Once: What It Covers and What You Still Have to Do Yourself

The short answer: Tell Us Once is a free government service that reports a death to most UK government organisations at the same time: HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Passport Office, the DVLA, the local council, Veterans UK, Social Security Scotland and several public sector pension schemes. The registrar offers it when you register the death. Either they do it with you there and then, or they give you a reference number to use online or by phone within 28 days. It does not tell banks, insurers, utility companies, landlords or private pensions. Those are still yours to contact.

That is the useful part in one paragraph. The rest of this page is what to have on the table before you start, who it does not work for, and the list of calls you will still be making afterwards. Everything here is taken from gov.uk's own guidance as it stands in November 2026.

If you have not registered the death yet, start with our guide to registering a death in England and Wales. Tell Us Once begins at the register office.

Who can use it

You can use Tell Us Once if the person who died was living in England, Scotland or Wales. That includes someone who died while temporarily abroad, on holiday or a business trip.

The death must either have been registered, or have been reported to a coroner with a final or interim death certificate issued.

You cannot use it if the person was:

• living in Northern Ireland when they died
• living abroad permanently when they died

In both cases you tell each organisation yourself. The list is further down.

If there is an inquest and the death cannot be registered yet, you do not have to wait months. Ask the coroner for an interim death certificate, then ask a registrar for a Tell Us Once reference number.

How it works

At the register office, the registrar explains the service and does one of two things:

1. Completes Tell Us Once with you during the appointment, or
2. Gives you a unique reference number so you can do it yourself, online or by phone.

The number is good for 28 days from the day you get it. Gov.uk is firm about this. If it lapses, you are back to contacting each department separately, so put the date in your phone before you leave the building.

The registrar gives you the phone number to call. Relay UK is available if you cannot hear or speak on the phone, and there is a British Sign Language video relay service.

Doing it in the registrar's office feels efficient, but plenty of people prefer to take the number home. You will be asked for a long list of details, some of which are in drawers you have not opened yet.

What to have ready

You need the reference number, and these details about the person who died:

• surname and date of death
• the name, address and contact details of whoever is dealing with the estate (the executor or administrator)
• if there is a surviving husband, wife or civil partner: their name, address, phone number, and National Insurance number or date of birth
• if there is no surviving spouse or civil partner, or they are not able to deal with things: the name and address of the next of kin
• if they died in a hospital, care home, nursing home or hospice: its name and address

Depending on their circumstances, you may also need:

• passport number and town of birth
• driving licence number
• registration numbers of any vehicles they owned
• the name of their local council and which council services they had (Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefit and so on)
• Blue Badge number, if you know it
• which benefits or State Pension they were getting
• whether they received an Armed Forces Pension or compensation payments
• their National Insurance number, if they were in a public sector pension scheme (Civil Service, Local Government, NHS in England and Wales, the Pension Protection Fund, or the Scottish public pension schemes)

You can give the National Insurance number even if they were not in one of those schemes. Gov.uk says it helps some organisations match records faster.

One thing people miss: you need permission from the surviving spouse or civil partner, the next of kin, the executor or administrator, and anyone who was claiming joint benefits with the person, before you give their details. If you are a son or daughter doing this on behalf of a parent who is still alive, ask them first. It is a short conversation and it saves an awkward one later.

Who Tell Us Once notifies

Organisation	What it does with the notice
HMRC	Deals with personal tax; cancels benefits and credits such as Child Benefit
Department for Work and Pensions	Cancels benefits and entitlements such as Universal Credit or State Pension
HM Passport Office	Cancels a British passport
DVLA	Cancels the driving licence, removes the person as keeper of up to five vehicles, ends vehicle tax
Local council	Cancels Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction and a Blue Badge; informs council housing; removes them from the electoral register
Veterans UK	Cancels or updates Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments
Social Security Scotland	Cancels Scottish benefits, such as Scottish Child Payment

It also notifies some public sector pension schemes so that future payments stop: the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, the Civil Service Pension Scheme, the Local Government Pension Schemes, NHS Pensions for England and Wales, the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme, and the Scottish Public Pension Agency schemes.

Afterwards, HMRC and the DWP will contact you about the person's tax, benefits and entitlements. Expect letters, and keep them together. If the person was overpaid a pension or benefit because it ran past the date of death, this is where you will hear about it.

If a child or baby has died, you can still use Tell Us Once. But the DWP only stops the benefits of the person who died. If you get benefits as that child's parent or carer, you have to tell the DWP separately.

What you still have to do yourself

This is the part the name hides. "Tell us once" means the government; nobody else is on the list. Gov.uk says you will still need to contact:

• banks and building societies
• mortgage providers
• insurance providers
• companies they had contracts with: energy, water, phone and broadband, landlords, housing associations
• personal and workplace pensions, unless the scheme is one of the public sector ones above

And, depending on the estate, you may also need to:

• update property records with HM Land Registry, if they owned land or property
• contact the DVLA again if you sell a vehicle, or keep it and tax it in your own name
• contact HMRC about business taxes such as VAT, if they had any
• contact the Student Loans Company, if they were repaying a loan to them

Then there are the organisations no government service will ever reach: the gym, the streaming services, the magazine subscription, the dentist, the GP surgery's repeat prescription, the email and social media accounts. Our who to notify when someone dies list goes through these in order, and what happens to their debts covers the creditors. Both are written mainly for American readers, but the order of the calls is the same.

A practical tip: buy enough death certificates at registration. Many banks and pension providers want to see an original, and many will send it back. Our guide to registering a death covers how to count how many you need.

If you cannot use Tell Us Once

Northern Ireland, someone who lived abroad permanently, or a reference number that ran out: you contact each organisation yourself. Gov.uk's list:

• HMRC: call the Bereavement Helpline. If you cannot call, fill in form P1000 to tell HMRC who is dealing with the estate.
• DWP: the Bereavement Service on 0800 151 2012 (Relay UK: 18001 then 0800 151 2012; Welsh language: 0800 731 0453), Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. They cancel benefits and State Pension, and check whether you can get help with funeral costs or other benefits. If the person lived abroad, contact the International Pension Centre instead.
• Child Benefit Office: report the death of a child or of the parent within 8 weeks.
• National Insurance Contributions Office: if the person was self-employed or paying voluntary contributions.
• HM Passport Office: fill in the form "What to do when a passport holder dies" and post it.
• DVLA: if they held a licence or owned a vehicle.
• Social Security Scotland: freephone 0800 182 2222, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
• Pension providers, as soon as possible, so you do not have to pay back money paid after the death. The Pension Tracing Service helps find schemes you did not know about. Veterans UK handles armed forces pensions.
• Student Loans Company, if relevant.

In Northern Ireland, nidirect has its own guidance on who to tell.

The order that tends to work

1. Register the death and take the Tell Us Once reference number (or do it in the office).
2. Use it within the week if you can, not on day 27. It is one of the few tasks on this list that removes several others.
3. Start on the banks, pensions and utilities with death certificates in hand.
4. Keep a single notebook or document with who you contacted, when, and their reference number. You will be asked for these numbers again, usually by someone who has lost them.

If you are the executor, the rest of the sequence, finding the will, securing property and sorting out the estate, is in the executor's first 30 days. And if you are the one everyone is ringing for news, our grief support resources page lists the UK lines, including Cruse and Samaritans, for when the paperwork stops and the quiet starts.

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Once the forms are done, many families want one place where everyone can find the funeral details, the photographs and the stories, so they stop repeating the same news on the phone. GetMemorial helps you build an online memorial in minutes and share it with a link. Start one at GetMemorial.com.