Tell Us Once

The council offers local residents help to notify central or local government when they have had a family bereavement. You can find more about Tell Us Once on the GOV.UK website. The registrar will give you a unique reference number so that you can tell different government departments and agencies about the death either online or by phone.

Registering a death "out of hours" - please read carefully

If, for religious reasons, the physical burial is taking place before the next working day then where possible the registration service will try and assist with relevant paperwork around other operational needs. If the burial is arranged for 3pm, or later, then it is more likely that they will be able to do so.

Please note that paperwork from the Registration Service is not required for a body to be released from a mortuary nor for funeral rites and ceremonies (without the actual physical burial) to take place.

If a death takes place after 4pm on a Friday and requires burial before 3pm on the following Monday, a telephone call can be made to Police 101 to arrange the supply of the documentation required for the burial to proceed.

Body donation

Body donations are highly valued by staff and students at medical schools. A donated body can be used for a number of purposes, which may include:

Anatomical examination - teaching students or healthcare professionals about the structure and function of the human body
Research - scientific studies to improve the understanding of the human body
Education and training - training healthcare professionals on surgical techniques

Find out more from Human Tissue Authority information on donating a body.

Moving a body

There is no restriction on moving a body within England and Wales, but you need to tell the coroner for the district if you want to move a body to Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, or overseas. To do this you will need to fill out a form, which you can get from a coroner.

You will need to give the completed form to the coroner, along with any certificate for burial or cremation. The coroner will let you know when the body can be moved - usually after four days. However, in urgent situations, the whole process can usually be fast-tracked.

If somebody dies abroad, there is no need to register here. You can obtain information from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.