Tell Us Once

Helping you to tell government departments about a death

What is ‘Tell Us Once’?

When someone dies, it can be a stressful and upsetting time. As well as coping with the emotional distress that a death may bring, you will need to notify a number of different government departments and organisations. These could include council housing departments, adult services, income support, libraries, driver and vehicle licensing agencies and passport services for example.

In Kent and Bexley, a service called ‘Tell Us Once’ is available which makes it easier for you to do this.

Tell Us Once reduces the amount of time you need to spend contacting these government departments and organisations because you provide all the information to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) who then pass that information on to the people who need to know.

How does it work?  

When you call us to make your appointment to register the death, the Tell Us Once service will be explained to you.

At the time of the registration the Registrar will set up the deceased’s details on the Tell Us Once national database. This usually takes around five minutes at the end of the registration.

Once the details have been entered on to the national database, a full Tell Us Once interview can then be carried out. This can be done online, by telephone (directly with the DWP) or face-to-face (with a Kent County Council Registrar) at a later date.

• Online

Providing you have registered the death and the deceased's details have been added to the Tell Us Once database by the Registrar, you can use the online service. The Registrar will give you a unique reference number which you will need to log in.

• By telephone

Providing you have registered the death and the deceased’s details have been added to the Tell Us Once database by the Registrar, you can telephone the DWP on 0800 085 7308 and provide details over the phone.

• By face-to-face appointment

Alternatively, you can book a face-to-face Tell Us Once appointment with one of our Registrars. This service is offered across a number of Registration Offices.

If you are registering the death in one of these offices, it may be possible to have the Tell Us Once appointment straight after the registration appointment so that you do not have to return to the office at a later date or time. Please call 0300 333 5430 to book an appointment in Kent or 0300 333 5646 to book an appointment in Bexley.

What information will I need to use Tell Us Once?

A member of staff will tell you what information you need to provide in advance.

If I take part in Tell Us Once, what government departments and organisations can be told about the death?

Tell Us Once can notify the following departments after you have registered a death:

• Adult Social Services
• Attendance Allowance
• Blue Badge parking permit
• Child Benefit
• Child Tax Credit
• Children's services
• Council housing
• Council tax
• Council Tax Benefit
• Disability Living Allowance
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
• Electoral services
• Employment Support Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Library services
• Overseas Health Team
• Owe payments to council
• Passport Service
• Personal taxation
• Tax help for older people 
• War pensions scheme                                           
• Working Tax Credit

Where applicable, Tell Us Once will pass details to these departments on your behalf. The departments you choose to notify will contact you directly if they need any more information to process your change in circumstances.

Tell Us Once is a partnership between Kent County Council, the London Borough of Bexley, Kent’s District Councils and departments across Government.

For more information about registering a death and the Tell Us Once service, please call 0300 333 5430 for Kent enquiries and 0300 333 5646 for Bexley enquiries.