Tell Us Once Service: How It Works and How to Register (2026)

Tell Us Once is a service run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that allows you to report a death to most central government departments and your local council in a single step. Without it, you would need to contact each department individually: DWP to stop benefits, HMRC to update tax records, the Passport Office to cancel the passport, DVLA to update driving records, and the council for council tax and electoral register changes.

The service is available throughout England, Scotland and Wales, including when the person died while temporarily abroad, though not in Northern Ireland and not if they lived abroad permanently. It is one of the most genuinely helpful government services for bereaved people, though its name is slightly misleading because it does not cover everything. You will still need to contact many organisations yourself. More on that below.

Tell Us Once will notify the following on your behalf:

• + Department for Work and Pensions (DWP): Stops benefits and pensions (State Pension, Pension Credit, Universal Credit, ESA, JSA, Attendance Allowance, DLA, PIP, Carer's Allowance)
• + HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC): Updates tax records, stops tax credits, deals with their Self Assessment if applicable
• + HM Passport Office: Cancels the passport. It does not offer the option of having the passport returned as a keepsake, so if you would like it back, use form D1 instead
• + Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA): Cancels the driving licence, removes the person as registered keeper of up to 5 vehicles, and ends the vehicle tax. You still have to tell DVLA yourself if you sell a vehicle, keep one, or want to keep a personalised registration number
• + Local council: Updates council tax records, removes from the electoral register, cancels any blue badge, notifies housing benefit and council tax reduction teams
• + Veterans UK: If the person received an Armed Forces pension or compensation
• + Social Security Scotland: Devolved Scottish benefits
• + Public sector pension schemes: NHS Pensions, the Civil Service and Armed Forces schemes, Local Government Pension Schemes, the Scottish Public Pension Agency schemes, the Pension Protection Fund and the Financial Assistance Scheme

Each department will act on the notification independently. DWP will stop benefits (usually within a few days), HMRC will update tax records, and the council will adjust council tax. You do not need to follow up with each department unless there is a specific issue.

Have the following ready before you start:

• + The Tell Us Once reference number (from the registrar)
• + Their National Insurance number
• + Their date of birth and date of death
• + Their full address
• + Driving licence number (if they had one)
• + Passport number (if they had one)
• + Details of any benefits or pensions they were receiving
• + Details of any council tax account
• + The name and address of the next of kin or person dealing with the estate
• + Details of any public sector pension they received or paid into

Please do not worry if you do not have all of these details. You can still complete the service and provide anything missing later if needed. The system will not reject your report if some fields are left blank.

This is the part that catches most people out. Tell Us Once only covers government departments and local council services. You still need to contact the following yourself:

• + Banks and building societies
• + Credit card companies
• + Mortgage lenders
• + Insurance companies (home, car, life, health, pet, travel)
• + Utility companies (gas, electricity, water)
• + Phone, broadband, and TV providers
• + Subscription services (streaming, gym, magazines)
• + Social media companies
• + The person's employer
• + Private pension providers
• + Landlords or letting agents
• + Solicitors and accountants
• + Royal Mail (to redirect post)

Once you have completed Tell Us Once, the government side is largely handled. Your next priorities are:

• + Contact the bank to notify them and ask about releasing funds (see bank probate thresholds)
• + Contact home and car insurance companies, and check where you stand on the car before anyone drives it, as cover after the policyholder dies varies from one insurer to the next
• + Arrange the funeral
• + Begin gathering documents for probate
• + Notify utility companies and update names on accounts

Our complete step-by-step checklist covers every task in order.

Tell Us Once covers Scotland in the same way as England and Wales. The registrar will provide you with the reference number when you register the death, and you can complete it online or by phone. Alongside the departments listed above, it also notifies Social Security Scotland and the Scottish Public Pension Agency schemes. Bear in mind that a death must be registered within 8 days in Scotland rather than 5. For more details on the Scottish process, see our Scotland guide.

Tell Us Once is not available in Northern Ireland. You will need to contact each government department separately. This includes notifying the NI Social Security Agency, HMRC, the Passport Office, and the DVA (the Northern Ireland equivalent of DVLA). The driving licence goes to DVA, Driver Licensing Division, Castlerock Road, Waterside, Coleraine, BT51 3TB, but anything to do with the vehicle itself still goes to DVLA in Swansea. For more details, see our Northern Ireland guide.