Help & advice - what to do when someone dies

1. Obtain the medical certificate of cause of death
2. Make an appointment with the registrar
3. Notify the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
4. Decide whether to cremate or bury
5. Choose a funeral director     Show more....

1. Obtain the medical certificate of cause of death
2. Make an appointment with the registrar
3. Notify the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
4. Decide whether to cremate or bury
5. Choose a funeral director

Obtain the medical certificate of cause of death.

This may be issued at the time of death or will be made available for collection shortly after either from the doctor’s surgery or the hospital's bereavement services department. If the doctor cannot certify the cause of death the matter may be referred to HM Coroner (See the Coroner below).

Make an appointment with the registrar.

By law the death must be registered with the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths within five working days in the district in which they died. As the introduction of new technology is allowing registration to take place in expanded areas please ask us for up-to-date procedures, telephone numbers and assistance both in making an appointment and in getting there.

You will need to know, or take documents identifying, as many of the following as possible:-

• Place and date of the deceased’s birth and death
• Their full name - including maiden name
• Their home address
• Their marital status - and if a married woman, their spouse’s full name and occupation
• Their occupation

The "green"

After registration a green coloured Certificate for Burial or Cremation will be issued by the Registrar and this should be passed as soon as practicable to your chosen funeral director. Certified copies of the Entry of Death are available from the Registrar for a fee, and a number will be required for official purposes such as closing bank accounts and notifying pension schemes.

Notify the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

DWP’s ‘Tell us once’ service means that once the death has been registered you can ensure that any benefit entitlement is dealt with at the same time. Just call 0845 606 0265, or send back the form BD8 that the Registrar will give you.

Decide whether to cremate or bury.

Around 70% of us will be cremated. For many, sometimes due to religious beliefs, however, a burial remains the only choice. Please see our Bury or cremate section for some guidance in making this difficult decision particularly where the deceased left no instructions, or indication, of their wishes.

Choose a funeral director.

We are an independent family owned company. Companies like us handle some 60% of ‘at need’ funerals because:-

• We will be responsive to your needs and take personal pride in the service we provide
• We maintain a long term commitment to our community and we answer to you, our customers
• We have knowledge of local customs and traditions

• The deceased will have been taken to HM Coroner’s mortuary by a contracted firm of funeral directors. You do not have to use this firm for the funeral
• The Coroner’s officer is your key point of contact and will guide you through the process, which is to establish the cause of death
• A post-mortem is usually required, after which the deceased will be released for the funeral
• Where the cause and circumstance are found to have been natural the Coroner will issue Form 100 (the ‘pink’) to the Registrar to enable you to register the death. Where there is to be a cremation a Cremation Form 6 will be issued and sent to the nominated funeral director instead of you being issued 'the green' by the Registrar. For a burial the Registrar will issue you an authority for burial (the 'green'), which is to be given to the funeral director
• Where doubt exists about the medical cause of death, or if the death might have been violent or unnatural, or the death occurred in prison or was due to an industrial disease the Coroner will open and immediately adjourn an inquest into the nature and circumstance of the death.
• The inquest will delay registration and so the Coroner will issue an interim certificate of the fact of death to enable probate, and notification of the death to the Department of Work and Pensions. Where there is to be a cremation a Form 6 will also be issued; where it is to be a burial a Coroner’s Burial Order, which are usually sent directly to the funeral director. You will not be able to register the death until the Coroner has concluded the inquest.