How to Register a Death in the UK: A Step-by-Step Guide

Picture a register office waiting area on a wet Tuesday morning. There are a few chairs, a box of tissues on a low table and a noticeboard about wedding ceremonies. A woman in her fifties sits with a carrier bag on her lap. Inside it are her father's passport, an old council tax bill, his NHS card and a birth certificate so fragile it is folding along its creases. She has no idea which of them she actually needs. She brought everything, just in case.

That is how most people arrive at a death registration. It is a legal step that nearly every adult in the UK will take at least once, and almost nobody is told what it involves until they are already doing it. Around 1,800 people die in the UK every day, part of roughly 170,000 deaths a day worldwide that you can watch on our live counter. Every one of those UK deaths has to be registered, usually by a relative who is also coping with grief.

This guide goes deep on registration only: the deadline, the medical examiner, who is allowed to register, exactly what to bring, what you leave with and how the process differs in Scotland and Northern Ireland. For the wider checklist of everything that follows a death, from the funeral to the bank accounts, see our guide to what to do when someone dies in the UK.

Why registration matters

Registering a death is not just paperwork. Until it is done, the funeral cannot go ahead and most of the estate cannot be dealt with.

Registration unlocks	Why it matters
The certificate for burial or cremation	The funeral director, crematorium or burial authority needs it before the funeral
Certified copies of the death certificate	Banks, insurers and pension providers ask for them
Tell Us Once (England, Wales and Scotland)	Government departments are told in one go
Probate or confirmation	The estate cannot be administered without proof of death
Closing accounts and contracts	Most organisations will not act without a certificate

It is also a public record. The details given at registration become part of the official register, so it is worth getting names and dates exactly right.

Step one: the medical certificate and the medical examiner

Before anyone can register, the cause of death has to be confirmed. In England and Wales this now involves two doctors.

First, a doctor who treated the person completes the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (the MCCD). Then a medical examiner, a senior doctor who was not involved in the person's care, independently reviews the cause of death. The medical examiner system became a statutory requirement in England and Wales in September 2024, so it now applies to every death that is not investigated by a coroner, whether it happened in a hospital, a hospice, a care home or at home.

Who	What they do
Attending doctor	Completes the medical certificate of cause of death
Medical examiner	Independently checks the cause of death and the records
Medical examiner's office	Contacts the family to explain the cause and answer questions
Coroner	Investigates if the death was sudden, unexplained or unnatural
Registrar	Records the death once the paperwork is confirmed

GOV.UK says the medical examiner's office will contact you to explain the cause of death and answer any questions, and that taking part in that conversation is voluntary. It is also a genuine chance to raise concerns about the person's care. You then have to wait for the medical examiner's office to confirm that you can register. In most areas the certificate is sent electronically to the register office, so you do not need to carry it in.

If the coroner is involved

Some deaths are reported to the coroner instead. This is common and does not mean anyone suspects wrongdoing. It usually happens when the death was sudden, the cause is unknown, the person had not seen a doctor recently, or the death followed an accident, surgery or an injury.

Coroner outcome	What it means for registration
Coroner is satisfied, no post-mortem	The coroner sends paperwork to the registrar and you register as normal
Post-mortem shows natural causes	The coroner issues the paperwork, then you register
Inquest is opened	Registration is delayed until the inquest ends; an interim certificate of the fact of death can be used for banks and the estate

If the coroner is involved, the usual deadline does not run in the same way. The coroner's office will tell you when registration can happen.

Step two: know the deadline

GOV.UK says you must register a death within 5 days of getting confirmation from the medical examiner's office, or 8 days in Scotland. Weekends and bank holidays count. If you need more time, tell the register office straight away.

Nation	Deadline	Where to register
England and Wales	5 days from medical examiner confirmation	Usually a register office in the area where the person died
Scotland	8 days	Any registration office in Scotland
Northern Ireland	5 days	A district registrar's office

The deadline sounds tight, but register offices are used to delays, and families are not penalised for waiting on doctors or coroners. The practical advice is simple: book the appointment as soon as the medical examiner's office says you can.

In England and Wales you normally register in the district where the person died. If that is far from where you live, ask your local register office about a "declaration" instead. You give the details locally and they are passed on, but it can take longer to receive the documents, which may delay the funeral.

Step three: who can register

Registration is usually done by a relative, but the law allows other people too. In England and Wales the list includes:

Who can register	Notes
A relative	The most common choice: spouse, civil partner, child, parent, sibling
Someone present at the death	Even if not a relative
An administrator at the hospital, hospice or care home	Where the person died there
The person arranging the funeral	Through the funeral director, but not the funeral director themselves
The owner or occupier of the building where the death happened	If they knew about it

If the person who could register is too unwell or overwhelmed, it is fine to ask another eligible person to go instead. Some families bring a friend for support even when only one person speaks to the registrar.

Step four: what to bring

This is where the carrier bag of documents comes in. The registrar needs information rather than every document the person ever owned, but some paperwork makes the appointment quicker and avoids spelling mistakes.

The information the registrar asks for

Detail	Tip
Full name at the time of death	Check middle names on a passport or birth certificate
Any previous names, including maiden name	Important for women who changed names on marriage
Date and place of birth	Town and county, or country if born abroad
Date and place of death	Hospital name, care home name or home address
Usual address	Their last permanent home
Occupation	Most recent or main job, even if retired
Spouse or civil partner's full name and occupation	If they were married or in a civil partnership
Whether they received a State Pension or other benefits	Needed for the benefits record

Documents worth bringing

Document	Why it helps
Birth certificate	Confirms full name, date and place of birth
Marriage or civil partnership certificate	Confirms the spouse's details and maiden name
Passport	Confirms spelling of names and nationality
Driving licence	Confirms name and address, and is needed for Tell Us Once
NHS card or number	Helps with the medical record
Council tax bill or utility bill	Confirms the usual address
National Insurance number	Needed for Tell Us Once
Your own ID	Some offices ask the informant for identification

Do not panic if something is missing. The registrar can usually complete the record with the information you give, and they will tell you if anything else is needed.

Step five: the appointment itself

Most appointments take around 30 minutes. The registrar types the entry into the register, reads it back and asks you to check it carefully. This is the most important moment of the process: a mistake in a name or date that is spotted now takes seconds to fix, while a mistake found later needs a formal correction application.

Once you have checked it, you sign the register. The entry is then final.

At the appointment	What to do
Registrar asks questions	Answer from documents rather than memory where possible
Registrar reads the entry back	Check every spelling and date slowly
You sign the register	Only once you are happy it is correct
Registrar offers certificates and Tell Us Once	Decide how many copies you need before you go

Step six: what you leave with

GOV.UK says you will receive a certificate for burial or cremation, often called "the green form", which you must give to your funeral director, crematorium or burial authority before the funeral can take place.

Document	Who it goes to
Certificate for burial or cremation (green form)	The funeral director
Certified copies of the death certificate	Banks, insurers, pension providers, the Probate Registry
Tell Us Once reference number (England, Wales and Scotland)	Used to notify government in one go
Any benefits notification form	Department for Work and Pensions, where relevant

How many death certificates to buy

This is the one decision most families get wrong, usually by buying too few. Banks, building societies, life insurers, private pension schemes and the Probate Registry often want to see an original certified copy, and some keep it for weeks. Ordering later through the General Register Office costs £12.50 per certificate online for the standard service, according to GOV.UK, or £38.50 for the priority service. Prices at the register office on the day may differ, so ask before you pay.

Estate type	Rough number of copies
Simple estate: one bank, State Pension, no property	2 to 3
Typical estate: a few accounts, a private pension, a house	4 to 6
Complex estate: shares, several pensions, life insurance, property	6 or more

Plenty of organisations will now accept a scanned copy or verify a certificate and post it back, so you do not need one for every company. But having a few in hand speeds things up, especially for closing bank accounts.

Step seven: Tell Us Once

GOV.UK describes Tell Us Once as a service that "allows you to inform all the relevant government departments when someone dies". The registrar gives you a reference number and you complete it online or by phone.

Tell Us Once notifies	So you do not have to
HMRC	Tell the tax office separately
Department for Work and Pensions	Stop the State Pension and benefits yourself
HM Passport Office	Return or cancel the passport
DVLA	Update driving licence and vehicle records
The local council	Council Tax, Blue Badge, libraries, electoral roll
Some public sector pensions	Notify certain public service pension schemes

Tell Us Once does not cover private companies. Banks, energy suppliers, mobile networks, private pensions, insurers, subscriptions and social media accounts still need to be told one by one. Our guide to what happens to your social media when you die covers the online side.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland

Scotland has its own system run by National Records of Scotland. The main differences:

• The deadline is 8 days.
• You can register at any registration office in Scotland, not just the one where the person died.
• There is no green form. Instead, the registrar issues a Certificate of Registration of Death (form 14) for the funeral director.
• Deaths are reviewed by the Death Certification Review Service on a sample basis rather than by medical examiners, and the procurator fiscal takes the role the coroner has in England and Wales.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland follows its own rules through the General Register Office for Northern Ireland and local district registrars. The deadline is generally 5 days, and the registrar issues the paperwork needed for the funeral. Tell Us Once is not offered in the same way, so check nidirect for how to notify government departments.

Feature	England and Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
Deadline	5 days from confirmation	8 days	5 days
Where you register	District of death (or declaration elsewhere)	Any office in Scotland	District registrar
Cause of death review	Medical examiner	Sample review service	Doctor, coroner if needed
Investigating official	Coroner	Procurator fiscal	Coroner
Funeral paperwork	Green form	Form 14	Issued by registrar
Tell Us Once	Yes	Yes	Check nidirect

Special situations

Situation	What changes
Death abroad	Register locally in that country; you may also be able to register with the UK government if the death happened on or after 1 January 1983
Death on a foreign ship or aircraft	GOV.UK says it must be registered in the country where the ship or aircraft is registered
Stillbirth	Registered differently, with its own time limit; the hospital or midwife will explain
Mistake found after registration	Apply to correct the death registration through GOV.UK
No relatives available	Another qualifying informant, or the hospital or council, can register

How to make it easier for your own family

Almost every delay at registration comes down to missing information: a maiden name nobody remembers, an occupation from forty years ago, an NHS number in a drawer somewhere. You can take that problem away from the people you love by writing it down now.

Keep your full legal name, any previous names, birth details, National Insurance number, NHS number, and where your birth and marriage certificates are kept, all in one place. Tell someone where that place is. While you are at it, write down your funeral wishes and make sure your will is easy to find.

The bigger picture

Registration is a small window into a huge number. Roughly 650,000 deaths are registered across the UK each year. Most happen in hospitals, but a growing share happen at home or in care homes, as we explain in where do most people die. You can see the national picture on our United Kingdom page.

Behind each of those registrations is someone sitting in a quiet room, checking the spelling of a name they have said thousands of times, and signing it into the record for good.

While you were reading

This guide takes about 12 minutes to read. In that time, roughly 1,400 people have died around the world, and around 15 of them in the UK. Each one will soon be registered by someone who did not expect to be doing it this week. You can watch the live counter here, or see today's running total.

Sources: GOV.UK, What to do after someone dies: register the death; GOV.UK, Order a copy of a birth, death or marriage certificate (General Register Office fees); GOV.UK, Register a death abroad; Department of Health and Social Care, statutory medical examiner system (in force 9 September 2024); National Records of Scotland; nidirect, Registering a death in Northern Ireland. Procedures and fees change, so check GOV.UK, NRS or nidirect and your local register office before your appointment. This article is general information, not legal advice.