Rachel Maclean, the MP for Redditch County, is hoping to raise awareness of the Tell Us Once service following her family’s experience after the loss of a loved one.
This vital service, which enables people to report a death to most government organisations in one go, is available in Redditch and Rachel wants to make residents aware of this invaluable service which can help them at an extremely difficult and emotional time in their life.
Before this service was launched, families would have had to contact each individual Government organisation, bank, pension and insurance provider to report that their loved one had died.
Now, when residents register a death, the registrar will give them a unique reference number to use the Tell Us Once service online or by phone.
To use this service residents will need to give the date of birth, national insurance number, driving license number, vehicle registration number and passport number of the person who has died.
They will also need to provide the Tell Us Once service with details of any benefits or entitlements the deceased were getting, details of any local council services they were getting, the name and address of their next of kin, the name and address of the surviving spouse or civil partner, the name, address and contact details of the pension or company dealing with their estate, as well as details of any public sector or armed forces pension schemes they were getting or paying in to.
The Tell Us Once service will then be able to notify HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Passport Office, the DVLA, the local council and Veterans UK to cancel Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments.
Tell Us Once will contact some public-sector pension schemes so that they can cancel future pension payments, these include My Civil Service Pension, NHS Pension Scheme, Armed Forces Pension Scheme and local authority pension schemes.
This service will also contact the deceased’s bank or mortgage, pension or insurance providers to close or change the details of their accounts.
Rachel said: “The death of a loved one is one of the most extremely difficult and emotional moments of anyone’s life. This heart wrenching time is often made even worse when family members who are grieving have to register the death with every single Government department, organisation, bank, pension and insurance provider.
“Following the recent passing of a family member, we discovered the brilliant Tell Us Once service which enables the next of kin to report a death to most Government organisations in one go.
“This fantastic service is available here in Redditch and I want to make residents aware that this service is there for them at an extremely difficult moment in their life. The grieving process is already hard without the need to spend hours on the phone contacting every individual organisation and provider.
“For more information on the Tell Us Once service please visit www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once.”