Quick answer
Tell Us Once is a free government service in England, Wales and Scotland that reports a death to HMRC, DWP, the Passport Office, DVLA, the local council and public-sector pension schemes in one go. The registrar gives you a unique reference when you register the death; use it within 28 days.
When someone dies, dozens of organisations need to know — and telling them one by one, with a death certificate each time, is exhausting at the worst possible moment.
Tell Us Once is the government's answer: a free service that reports the death to most government departments in a single step. It's genuinely one of the best things about the UK system. But it has a hard limit that catches many families out: it doesn't notify a single commercial organisation. No banks. No utilities. No private pensions.
This guide covers both halves — what Tell Us Once does brilliantly, and the long tail it leaves entirely to you.
What Tell Us Once is
Tell Us Once is a free government service available in England, Wales and Scotland. It is not available in Northern Ireland, and it can't be used if the person lived permanently abroad.
When you register the death, the registrar will either complete the service with you on the spot or give you a unique reference number to use yourself, online or by phone. You must use the reference within 28 days.
If the registrar offers to complete it with you at the appointment, say yes — it's the fastest route, and you'll walk out with the government side of things largely done. If you take the reference away instead, come prepared before you sit down to use it. The service works best when you can supply:
- The deceased's National Insurance number (the key that unlocks HMRC and DWP records)
- Their passport number and driving licence number
- Vehicle registration numbers for any cars, vans or motorbikes they kept
- Details of any benefits, State Pension or public-sector pensions they were receiving
- The name and address of their next of kin and of whoever is dealing with the estate
Missing details don't stop you using the service — they just mean the odd organisation gets missed and needs a follow-up call later.
Who Tell Us Once notifies
One session covers an impressive amount of government:
| Organisation | What happens |
|---|---|
| HMRC | Sorts out tax and cancels tax credits |
| DWP | Stops benefits and the State Pension |
| Passport Office | Cancels the passport |
| DVLA | Cancels the driving licence and removes the deceased as registered keeper on up to 5 vehicles |
| Local council | Updates Council Tax, Housing Benefit, Blue Badge, the electoral register and council housing |
| Veterans UK | Updates Armed Forces pension records |
| Social Security Scotland | Stops devolved benefits |
| Public-sector pension schemes | NHS, Armed Forces, Civil Service, LGPS and the Pension Protection Fund |
One DVLA subtlety worth knowing: Tell Us Once removes the deceased as registered keeper, but you must still tell DVLA separately when you keep or sell each vehicle.
What Tell Us Once does NOT cover
Here's the half that surprises people. Tell Us Once notifies government only. Everything commercial is on you:
Banks and building societies. Use the free Death Notification Service instead — one online form reaches around 40+ firms including Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, NatWest, RBS, HSBC, Santander, Nationwide, TSB, Monzo and Virgin Money, and member firms respond within 10 working days. But note: roughly half of all account providers still aren't members, so smaller banks and credit unions need contacting directly.
The home. Mortgage lender or landlord, gas, electricity, water, broadband and mobile — all separate calls.
Insurers. Contact these early: motor insurance on the deceased's car becomes invalid for other drivers once the policyholder dies. Don't let a family member drive it uninsured.
Private and workplace pensions. Tell Us Once covers public-sector schemes only. Every private or workplace pension needs its own notification — and the free Pension Tracing Service can help find lost ones.
Employer and Student Loans Company. Wages, death-in-service benefits, and loan write-off all need direct contact.
NS&I and Premium Bonds. There's a dedicated NS&I bereavement claim. A useful quirk: Premium Bonds can stay in prize draws for up to 12 months after death, so there's no rush to cash them in.
TV Licensing. Transfer or cancel the licence — refunds cover full unused months.
Royal Mail redirection. A bereavement redirection (special circumstances) costs £35.99 for 3 months, £48.99 for 6 months, or £68.99 for 12 months — worth it if the property will sit empty.
Junk mail and fraud prevention. Register with The Bereavement Register and the Deceased Preference Service — both free. They stop marketing mail, update the credit reference agencies, and make identity fraud against the deceased much harder.
Where Tell Us Once doesn't apply
Two gaps to know about. Northern Ireland has no Tell Us Once service — if the death is registered there, every organisation on the government list above needs contacting individually, starting with HMRC and the relevant benefits offices. And the service can't be used if the person lived permanently abroad, even if they were a British citizen with a UK State Pension; in that case, contact the International Pension Centre and HMRC directly.
If you're in either situation, the commercial checklist below still applies in full — you simply lose the government shortcut, which makes working from a structured list even more valuable.
Three mistakes families make with Tell Us Once
Assuming "the government knows" means "everyone knows". The most common error. Tell Us Once feels comprehensive because it is comprehensive — for government. Families then discover months later that a private pension has kept paying (and wants the money back), or a mobile contract has kept billing an empty house. Treat Tell Us Once as step one of the notifications, not the whole job.
Forgetting the private pensions entirely. Public-sector schemes like the NHS, Armed Forces, Civil Service and LGPS are covered; the workplace pension from a 1990s employer is not. If you're not sure what pensions existed, the free Pension Tracing Service can track down lost schemes — old payslips and bank statements are the usual clues.
Letting the deceased's car become a problem. Between the DVLA keeper rules, the invalid insurance, and road tax, the car is a small minefield. Tell Us Once handles the licence and keeper record, but insurance and the keep-or-sell decision are yours — and until the insurance is sorted, nobody else should drive it.
How the two halves fit together
Think of it as one government step and one commercial marathon:
- Tell Us Once handles government in a single session — do it within 28 days.
- The Death Notification Service handles most big banks in one form.
- Everything else — utilities, insurers, private pensions, subscriptions — needs working through one by one.
Whether you'll need a grant of probate for the banks to release money is a separate question — our free probate checker gives you an answer in two minutes, and the UK probate guide explains the whole process. If probate is needed, budget for the new fee too: probate now costs £526 for most estates.
Why doing this early matters
Every organisation you notify promptly is one less overpayment to claw back, one less statement posted to an empty house, and one less account a fraudster can quietly take over. It also feeds directly into the probate timeline — accurate, early notifications mean accurate estate valuations, and faster probate overall.
A guided checklist turns this from a memory test into a tick list: government done in one step, banks in a second, and the commercial long tail worked through in order without anything slipping.