• Home
• Legal Services
• Register Office

Registering Deaths

Deaths should normally be registered within 5 days, unless the Coroner is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death. A death should be registered in the district where it occurred.

Staff at the Register Office will endeavour to be as sympathetic and supportive as possible, and will answer all the questions that you may have. An appointment must be made to register a death. These are available generally in the afternoons only.

The following people, in order of preference, are legally required to register a death:

• a relative
• a person present at the death
• the occupier of the premises where the death occurred, if he/she was aware of the death
• the person arranging the funeral (this does not mean the funeral director)

To register, make an appointment at the Register Office of the district where the death occurred, either in person or by phone.

You must bring with you a medical certificate of cause of death issued by the doctor who was treating the deceased. If possible, you should also bring the deceased's birth certificate, marriage certificate and medical card.

This Office or a funeral director will advise you what to do if the Coroner has been informed of the death.

A Registrar will interview you in private, and ask questions about the person who has died.

You will need to know the following information:

You will be given a document to enable you to make the funeral arrangements. If the death was referred to the Coroner, there may be other procedures.

You will be given a form for Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) purposes. You may also wish to purchase a copy Death Certificate at this time.

You may need these for:

• probate or letters of administration;
• banks and building society accounts;
• insurance companies;
• stocks and shares;
• solicitors;
• other purposes.

If you do not buy enough certificates at the time you register, you can still get them at any time in the future, but they may cost more if the register has been completed.

For related information, please see our Burials and Cremations web pages.

Tell us once

When someone has died, there are lots of things that need to be done, at a time when you probably least feel like doing them. One of these is contacting government departments and local council services that need to be told.

Thurrock Council is providing a service which we hope will make things easier. This new service means that you can just tell us and these organisations will be contacted.

Depending on your circumstances the following organisations can be notified:

• Adult services
• Attendance Allowance
• Bereavement Benefit
• Blue Badge Parking Permit
• Carer's Allowance
• Child Benefit
• Children's Services
• Collection of Payment for Council Services
• Council Housing
• Council Tax
• Council Tax Benefit
• Disability Living Allowance
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
• Electoral Services
• Employment and Support Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Identity and Passport Service
• Incapacity Benefit
• Income Support
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Library Services
• Pension Credit
• Personal taxation
• State Pension

To make sure the right information is given to any organisations we contact for you, and so that you get the most out of the service, it will help if you can bring along with you the following information about the person who has died:

• their National Insurance number;
• details of any benefits or services they were receiving;
• their Driving Licence or Driving Licence number;
• their Passport or Passport number;
• their Blue Badge if they had one.

We may also ask you for information about:

• their next of kin;
• any surviving husband, wife or civil partner;
• the person dealing with their estate.

You must obtain the agreement of the persons listed above if you are going to provide us with information about them.

We will treat the information you give us securely. The organisations we give your information to will use it to update records, but only as the law allows.

Back to Top