Registering a death

Booking an appointment to register a death

Please use the online form below to book an appointment with the registrar if the death occurred in Cambridgeshire.

If you would like to hold a celebration of life ceremony please visit Celebration of Life (Cambridgeshire Ceremonies) to find out more and make a booking.

If the death occurred outside Cambridgeshire, you can still register the death by declaration which means we take the information from you and send the paperwork to the relevant county who will issue the paperwork. This will cause a delay to the arrangements.

All offices operate on an appointment basis. Please be prompt for your appointment. If you are more than five minutes late you may have to make another appointment. Please remember to bring your debit / credit card to pay for the certificates you require. Reception services are only available in Cambridge.

Please ensure you read and answer the questions carefully to ensure we are able to complete the appointment as wrong information may result in you having to re-book.

Book an appointment to register a death

During your appointment

You will need to tell the registrar:

the person's full name at time of death and any names previously used, including maiden surname
the person's date and place of birth (town and county if born in the UK and country if born abroad)
their last address
their occupation
the full name, date of birth and occupation of a surviving spouse or civil partner
if they were getting a state pension or any other state benefit

Documents you will receive afterwards

If a post-mortem is not being held, the registrar will give you a certificate for burial or cremation (called the 'green form'), giving permission for the body to be buried or to apply for the body to be cremated.

Death certificates cost £12.50 each, please have your debit/credit card with you for payment. If you need to apply for certificates at any stage after attending your appointment please see our certificates and family history webpage.

Any correction requested to a death entry will have to be accompanied by a non-refundable fee of £83 or £99 respectively (dependent on whether the correction can be done locally or has to be referred to General Register Office). Any correction application must be made in the district where the event occurred. We therefore request that you check the register page very carefully before signing to avoid the need to make corrections.

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

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.