A Guide to the "Tell Us Once" Service
When you lose a loved one it can be an emotional, confusing, and stressful time. To help ease the worries you may have when considering what to do next, the Government has usefully created a function called “Tell Us Once”.
TELL US ONCE
What is the Tell Us Once service?
The Tell Us Once service was set up in 2011 in order to assist in the administration of an estate. Whilst the service is optional, it provides you with a time-efficient process to inform a variety of organisations about the passing of your loved one. The service is completely free and takes around ten minutes to complete if you have all the required information to hand.
What does the Tell Us Once service do?
The Tell Us Once service informs a particular group of organisations about the death of your loved one. This saves you the time of contacting them all individually. Once you have registered the death, you will be provided with a unique reference number for the Tell Us Once service. Before attempting to complete the service, it will be useful to have the following information to hand:
Your loved one’s:
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Full name
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Date of birth
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Date of death
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Most recent address
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Spouse/Next of Kin details
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Executor details
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Benefits information
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Public or Government Pension information
If your loved one had a passport or a driving licence, you will also need the information relating to these.
Who does the Tell us Once service not inform?
Tell us Once will not inform banks or building societies of your loved one’s passing. They will also not inform any private pension companies, and so you will need to do this yourself. As well as this, you will also need to ensure you inform any utility companies in order for them to update their records. It’s not possible for the Tell us Once service to identify all creditors your loved one may have had, and so placing a notice in your local newspaper and in the Gazette will alleviate any concerns.
If you wish to take advantage of the Tell Us Once service or wish to find out more information, you can do so by following this link: https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once.
Whether you use the Tell Us Once service or not, Lawson West Solicitors are here to help. If you’ve recently lost someone and need advice on the next steps to take, please do not hesitate to Contact Us.
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