Who to notify?

Visit the tell us once page to see how we can help.

Organising the funeral

• Check to see if the person who died had a pre-paid funeral plan.
• Contact a funeral director to arrange the funeral. They should give you the costs in writing.
• If the person who had died doesn’t have the money in their estate (this is their property and possessions) to cover the cost of the funeral, the person who organises it will have to pay.

Letting organisations know

When you sort out the affairs of someone who has died, you need to deal with a lot of organisations. Different people have different circumstances and the people you need to contact will vary. We've listed some of the main areas you need to think about below.

Pensions

• Contact the Department for Work and Pensions to get any pension payments stopped.
• Talk to the person’s employer. They may be able to tell you if the person’s pension can be passed on to another member of the family. Also, contact any personal pension providers that may have been used.

Health services

• Tell the person's doctor.
• Return any equipment you borrowed from a hospital or Social Services.
• Cancel any Social Services they used, such as meals on wheels, transport or help at home.
• Tell your local hospital, dentist and other health services they used.

Money

These organisations may need to see a copy of the death certificate.

• Inland Revenue - there may be an Income Tax refund.
• Banks, building societies or credit card companies that the person used. If they had premium bonds you’ll need to let National Savings and Investments know.

Houses and household bills

• Ask the Post Office to redirect any mail.
• Depending on the person’s circumstances, you my need to speak to a housing department, mortgage company or private landlord.
• Tell the utility companies that provide services like gas, electricity and water.
• Cancel any deliveries of heating oil.
• Tell the company that provides the household insurance.
• Tell the companies that provide the home phone line and, if they had a contract, the mobile phone company.

Transport and travel

• Tell the car insurance company. Please note that anyone who is a named driver on the person’s car insurance will no longer be insured to drive the vehicle. This is because the person who took out the insurance policy isn’t alive to give their permission for someone else to drive the car.
• You should send their driving licence back to the DVLA.
• You will need to cancel any travel passes they had.
• If they had a passport you will need to return it to the passport agency.

Personal items

• You should return any library books and cancel their membership.
• Send back any membership cards to clubs or associations. Don’t forget to claim any refund that’s due.

Sorting out their estate

When a person dies somebody has to sort out his or her estate. Their estate includes their money, property and the possessions they’ve left. The person sorting out their estate collects in all the money pays any debts and shares out the estate to those people entitled to it.

To sort out someone’s estate, you need to apply for probate. The Probate Office will give you a grant of probate if the person left a will, or will ‘Grant Letters of Administration’ if there isn’t a will. Your local Probate Registry will send you the forms you need with notes and guidance on what you have to do. A useful Helpline telephone number is 0846 3020900.

You can pay a solicitor to sort out the estate for you. You may already have a solicitor your family uses. If not, you will need to choose one. Ask friends if they can recommend one and, when you contact them, ask about their charges.

Helping you to cancel council services

The law says that the registrar who is registering the death must tell certain departments that this person has died. These departments include the Council Tax department and the Electoral Registrar.

Other council departments will also need to be told of the death

The registrar can also contact other council departments which might need to know. The registrar will pass on the information by emailing or posting a copy of the information contained on the death certificate. That council department will not give this information to any other organisations.