Register a death - Tell Us Once

You must register a death within 5 days. Once the death is registered you can purchase death certificates from the registrar. The registrar will also issue a green form to the funeral director to enable the funeral to take place.

A death has to be registered in the district where it took place. You'll be required to make an appointment to attend the Register office to register the death.

How to register a death

To register a death in the borough of Rochdale:

  1. Who can register a death depends on the circumstances of the death. See who can register a death on GOV.UK
  2. You'll only be able to register the death once the doctor or coroner has emailed us the relevant documentation. Your doctor or the coroner will advise you accordingly.
  3. Phone us using the contact details on this page to make an appointment once you know the documentation has been issued.
  4. We'll confirm your appointment time by email and let you know what information you'll require for your appointment.
  5. Once the death is registered, you can then purchase death certificates.
  6. We will email the required 'green form' to your Funeral Director.  

Phone us on 01706 924784 to make an appointment to register a death

Costs for registering a death

Costs for registering a death include:

  • It's free to register a death.
  • £12.50 to purchase a standard death certificate at the time of registration. The central government sets the price for certificates.
  • £83 to apply for a correction if you find a mistake on the death certificate after it's signed. Or £99 if the correction needs to be considered by the Registrar General.

What information you need to register a death

You'll need to tell us or provide us with the following:

  • Their National Insurance number
  • Their date of birth
  • Details of any benefits or services they were receiving
  • Their death certificate
  • Their driving licence or driving licence number
  • Their passport or passport number
  • Their Blue Badge

Depending on the circumstances, we may also need to know information about:

  • Their next of kin - including their national insurance number
  • Any surviving husband, wife or civil partner
  • Anybody who is getting child benefit on their behalf
  • The person dealing with the estate

You must obtain the agreement of the next of kin or person dealing with the estate if you're going to provide information about them.

Report a death to government organisations - Tell Us Once

Tell Us Once is a service that lets you report a death to most government organisations in one go.

We can let many different government and council services know about the death.

Government services - we can tell:

Council services - we can tell:

  • Blue Badge service
  • Adult Social Care
  • Children's services
  • Payment collectors
  • Licensing service
  • Electoral service
  • Council Tax team
  • Business rates team
  • Housing team

Social housing providers - if the deceased was a tenant of a social housing provider, unfortunately, we cannot notify them of the death through the Tell Us Once Service. You will have to notify your social landlord yourself. Contact Rochdale Housing Solutions.

Using the Tell Us Once service

When you register a death, the registrar will explain to you how the Tell Us Once service works. We'll then send you:

  • A letter with a reference number
  • Instructions on how to use the service

You should try to set this up within a week of receiving the instructions.

Use the Tell Us Once service online on GOV.UK

More about the Tell Us Once service

The Department for Work and Pensions has created a video explaining the Tell Us Once service.

Apply for a copy death certifcate

You can pay for another copy or a replacement copy of a death certificate at any time after registering a death. Apply for a copy death certificate.