Tell Us Once UK (2026): How to Notify Government Departments of a Death

Tell Us Once is a free service provided by central and local government that allows you to report a death to multiple government departments and local authority services in a single notification, rather than contacting each one individually. When you register a death at a register office, the registrar will either complete Tell Us Once with you at the appointment or give you a unique Tell Us Once reference number to use yourself afterwards. You can use the reference number online at Gov.uk/tell-us-once or by telephone (the helpline number is provided on the Gov.uk page and the reference slip given by the registrar). You must use the reference number within 28 days of receiving it. The service collects the deceased's personal details, National Insurance number, and date of death, then automatically notifies all the relevant departments that hold records for the deceased. Tell Us Once is available in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland; in Scotland the service is called Tell Us Once Scotland and is integrated into the registration process.

Tell Us Once notifies: (1) HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) — for income tax, PAYE records, National Insurance contributions, tax credits (Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit), and Child Benefit; (2) Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — for State Pension, Universal Credit, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Carer's Allowance, and Pension Credit; (3) Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) — to cancel the deceased's driving licence and any vehicle tax refund due; (4) HM Passport Office — to cancel the deceased's passport; (5) Veterans UK — for armed forces pension or compensation scheme recipients; (6) Your local council — for council tax, housing benefit, council housing tenancy, and Adult Social Care services. Where the deceased was receiving a public sector occupational pension (such as a teacher's pension, civil service pension, or NHS pension), Tell Us Once may also notify those schemes if they are linked to the service — but check with the specific scheme provider to confirm. Only departments that hold a record for the deceased are notified; there is no effect on services where the deceased had no record.

Tell Us Once does not contact private sector organisations. The following must be dealt with separately: (1) Banks and building societies — each institution must be contacted individually with a death certificate. Many banks have dedicated bereavement teams. The Death Notification Service (deathnotificationservice.co.uk) allows notification to multiple participating UK banks and financial institutions in one step — a private sector equivalent of Tell Us Once for financial services. (2) Private pension schemes — occupational pensions with private sector employers and personal pension/SIPP providers must be notified directly; each scheme has its own bereavement process and will require a death certificate and expression of wishes/nomination form to be submitted. (3) NS&I (National Savings and Investments) — Premium Bonds, ISAs, and savings certificates with NS&I must be reported separately via NS&I's bereavement service. (4) Insurance companies — life insurance policies, home insurance, car insurance, and other policies must each be cancelled or claimed individually. (5) Utility companies — gas, electricity, water, and broadband must be notified separately by the executor. (6) Subscription services — Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, gym memberships, clubs — each must be cancelled individually. (7) Companies House — if the deceased was a company director, Companies House and the company's registered agent must be notified separately.

The following people can use Tell Us Once on behalf of the deceased: the person who registered the death (typically a close relative, the hospital bereavement team, or a funeral director who was asked to register); any person given the Tell Us Once reference number by the registrar; the executor or administrator of the estate; a person with a grant of probate or letters of administration. Tell Us Once requires the person using the service to have relevant personal information about the deceased — full name, date of birth, National Insurance number, last address, and any relevant benefit or pension reference numbers. You do not need to have probate or letters of administration before using Tell Us Once — you can and should use it as soon as possible after the death is registered, as some DWP and HMRC processes are triggered automatically by the notification and must be initiated promptly to avoid overpayments being made in the deceased's name.

After using Tell Us Once, each notified department updates its records and takes appropriate action. HMRC will stop any PAYE coding for the deceased and flag the National Insurance record; if there is an ongoing self-assessment obligation, HMRC will issue final notices (the executor should watch for these). DWP will stop ongoing benefit payments — State Pension and other DWP benefits paid after the date of death create an overpayment that DWP will seek to recover from the estate; Tell Us Once triggers this process so overpayments are minimised. DVLA will cancel the driving licence and process any vehicle tax refund due. The local council will stop council tax charges (a bereavement discount is often applied to a sole occupant's bill; the council may also contact the estate separately about council tax liability during the administration period). You will usually not receive confirmation letters from every individual department — the process runs in the background. If you need confirmation that a specific department has been notified, you can request this from Gov.uk or contact that department directly.

Yes — Tell Us Once triggers DWP to stop ongoing benefit payments, including State Pension, Universal Credit, PIP, and ESA, from the date of death. Payments made after the date of death are overpayments that must be returned to DWP from the estate. If the deceased's bank account receives a DWP payment after death (for example, a State Pension payment in the same week as the death), the executor should set that money aside and return it to DWP; banks are required to return post-death payments to DWP on request. Not returning DWP overpayments can result in DWP taking recovery action against the estate or the bank holding the funds. Bereavement Support Payment (the separate DWP benefit for the surviving spouse or civil partner) is not triggered by Tell Us Once — the survivor must claim it separately, ideally within 3 months of the death. Tell Us Once and BSP operate on different DWP systems; completing Tell Us Once does not automatically start a BSP claim.

No — Tell Us Once and death registration are separate processes, though they are linked at the point of registration. Death registration must happen first: a death must be formally registered at a register office within 5 days of the death occurring in England and Wales (though this deadline can be extended in some circumstances). Registration is a legal requirement and creates the formal death certificate (which is the official legal document proving the death). Tell Us Once is a separate notification service that piggybacks on the registration process — it is optional (you can decline to use it) but strongly recommended because it saves a great deal of administrative work. Tell Us Once does not substitute for registering the death; you must still register. Registering the death is free; Tell Us Once is free; purchasing additional certified copies of the death certificate from the register office costs a small fee per copy (in 2026, approximately £11 per certified copy). Request enough copies — you typically need one per institution (bank, pension provider, mortgage company, etc.), so 5-10 copies is a common requirement for estates with multiple financial accounts.