When someone dies, the death must be registered within five days.
If you’re registering a death from outside the district, information will be sent to the office in the area where the person died. That district will then issue the certificates. This is called registering by declaration and you should allow more time for the burial or cremation documents to reach you.
What you’ll need to register a death
To register a death, the Registration Service will need the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death which will be forwarded directly to us from the hospital or doctor’s surgery. The hospital or surgery should advise you when the paperwork has been completed.
If a death has been reported to the coroner we’ll need documents from them before we can register the death.
To register the death, we’ll need to ask you:
- date and place of death
- full name, date and place of birth, last occupation and usual address of the deceased person
- whether the deceased person received any pension or benefits
If the deceased person was married or widowed we’ll need to know the full name and last occupation of their spouse. We’ll also need to know the date of birth of their surviving spouse.
Once the registration is complete we’ll produce the form for the burial or cremation, unless the coroner has already issued one. This will be forwarded directly to the cemetery or crematorium, and can also be sent to your funeral director if you would like.
You can buy as many copies of the death certificate as you need. The cost of a death certificate is £11.