Introduction

To book an appointment to register a death, you need to make sure that the Medical Examiner or Coroner has sent the necessary documents to somersetregistrations@somerset.gov.uk.

If you have not heard from the Medical Examiner or Coroner, please contact them in the first instance. When you have received confirmation from the Medical Examiner or Coroner, please phone us on 01823 282251 to book an appointment.

The death should usually be registered within 5 days of Somerset Registration Service receiving the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death from the Medical Examiner.

All offices use an appointment system. Please phone or email to book an appointment after the Medical Examiner or Coroner has sent us the needed documents.

What to do

Information and guidance to help you

After someone has died, one of the first things that must be done is to legally register the death with our Registration Service.

Usually, deaths need to be registered within 5 days after the Registration Service gets the medical certificate of cause of death from the Medical Examiner. If the death is referred to the coroner, this rule might not apply. A relative of the deceased person usually registers the death.

You can read a step-by-step guide on the GOV.UK – What to do when someone dies page. There is also Information to help bereaved families, friends or next of kin make important decisions.

If you would like to talk to someone about your loss

Grieving is important to us all, and there is no one way to grieve. It often encompasses a wide range of emotions, including (but in no particular order) anger, despair, sadness, numb, relief, worry, anxiety, frustrated and fear.

Somerset Bereavement Support Service

If you would like to have someone to talk to about your loss, then please contact the Bereavement Support Service. They are there to help you through this difficult time. Marie Curie Companions provide one to one emotional and bereavement support for all. Additional specialist help will also be available if needed. Please phone 0800 3047 412, Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm.

Face to face appointments

You will need to make an appointment to register a death.

A Medical Certificate of Cause of Death will be completed by a doctor and scrutinised by the Medical Examiner who will contact the next of kin to discuss the cause of death. Once this has been confirmed the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death will be sent electronically to the Registration Service. The Medical Examiner Officer should let you know when this has been done.

The informant should then phone the Registration Service on 01823 282251 to arrange a face to face appointment at one of our offices.

Once booked, an email will be sent to the informant confirming the address of the office you will attend, the time and date of the appointment, along with a checklist of the information that you will need to provide. This information is also in the ’Your appointment and what you will need’ section of this page.

At your appointment you will be given a unique reference number to access the Tell Us Once Service. This service allows you to notify a range of government agencies and departments about the death. The ‘green form’ for the funeral will be sent electronically to the authority undertaking the burial or cremation, as well as the funeral director with your consent.

Registration Service managers are working with key partner agencies such as the Coroner, funeral homes, doctors and Health Trusts to ensure a joined up approach. While the online appointment booking system is temporarily on hold, the service aims to have this available to the public again as soon as possible.

How to book

We administer death registrations in Somerset and North Somerset. If the death took place in Somerset, you can register at any of our Somerset offices. North Somerset deaths must be registered at Weston or Clevedon. Find details of all our offices

To make an appointment to register a death, please phone 01823 282251. Appointments to register a death are normally allocated 45 minutes.

If the death took place outside Somerset or North Somerset, it should be registered at a Register Office in the district in which the death occurred. If you cannot get there, you can register the death ‘by declaration’ at any Register Office in England and Wales. This means that the details you give to the registrar will be sent to the correct district to be registered.

In some circumstances, the death will have been reported to the coroner. The registrar must receive documents from the coroner before the death can be registered.

You should only make provisional arrangements for a funeral until authority for the funeral has been issued, either by a registrar or the coroner.

Your appointment and what we will need

You will be given a private appointment with the registrar. If you wish to tell us about other government services that the deceased used, please see our information below about the free Tell Us Once Service.

Unless the coroner has ordered a post mortem, the doctor in attendance will produce the medical certificate of cause of death and forward it to the Medical Examiner who will scrutinise the death and speak to the next of kin. Once they have done so they will forward the certificate to our office by email. They should advise you when this has been completed.

This is the information we will need about the person who has died.

• Date and place of death
• Name, surname and maiden name (if applicable) of the deceased
• The deceased’s date and place of birth
• Last occupation and marital status of the deceased
• The usual address of the deceased
• Whether the deceased received any pension or benefits from public funds
• Name and last occupation of the deceased’s spouse (if married or widowed)
• If the deceased was still married, the date of birth of the surviving spouse.

The full name and address of the person making the registration will also be added to the register.

In order of preference informants are as follows:

• a relative or partner of the deceased. The legal definition of partner states: “a person who was living in an enduring relationship with the deceased at the time of their death”
• a personal representative of the deceased. This is a person appointed by and acting on behalf of the family, or appointed by the deceased person prior to their death
• a person present at the death
• the occupier of the house this person being a senior member of staff at the care home or hospital where the death occurred
• the person causing the burial or cremation of the body

The registrar will produce a form (the ‘green form’) authorising the burial or cremation unless this has already been issued by the coroner.  This will be sent electronically to the agency undertaking the burial or cremation, as well as the funeral director if requested.

Costs

There is no charge for registering a death. You will be able to buy as many copies of the death certificate as you need. Each certificate will cost £12.50.

All our offices can accept card payments. We advise bringing physical cards rather than relying on contactless phone apps as there can be occasional issues with that technology.

The number of certificates you need to buy will depend on the number of organisations that need to be informed about the death. Banks, building societies, pension and life insurance companies will all usually ask to see a death certificate.

Corrections

There is a non-refundable statutory fee for any correction requested after the registration is complete.

We cannot guarantee that the correction will be authorised. The fee will be £83 and in some circumstances will increase to £99 if the correction needs to be authorised by the General Register Office.

Additionally you will have to pay a further £12.50 for each certificate requested after the correction has been completed. Therefore, it is very important that you check the document carefully at the registration appointment.

The Tell Us Once Service

Once the death is registered the registrar will issue you with a Tell Us Once unique reference number to notify government agencies. You can then use this number to access the service either online or by phone which will notify local and national government departments about the death.

The unique reference number is valid for 28 days after it has been issued.

If the coroner has issued an interim ‘Fact of Death’ certificate, please forward a copy to somersetregistrations@somerset.gov.uk and we can issue a unique reference number to allow you to access the Tell Us Once Service.

We can also issue a Tell Us Once reference number if a resident of Somerset died whilst abroad on holiday or on business. Please forward a copy of the death certificate and confirmation of their usual residential address in Somerset to somersetregistrations@somerset.gov.uk.

See our Tell Us Once page  to find out what the service does.

Probate

If you have decided not to employ a legal advisor you may need to establish if probate is required. Please visit Applying for probate (gov.uk) for more information.