What to do first

What needs to happen next depends almost entirely on where the person died. Find the heading below that fits, and ignore the rest.

If the death happened in hospital

The hospital will look after your relative until you have chosen a funeral director. There is no rush on that decision, and nobody at the hospital should be pressing you to make it that day.

A doctor who treated your relative will complete a medical certificate of cause of death. Since September 2024 that certificate is reviewed independently by a medical examiner before it goes anywhere, and the medical examiner's office will normally ring you to talk it through and give you the chance to ask questions. They send the certificate straight to the register office; you do not have to collect anything.

What the hospital bereavement office will ask you for is two things: which funeral director you have chosen, and whether it is to be a burial or a cremation. Once you have told them, ring us and we will arrange collection with them directly.

If the death happened at home

Ring the GP surgery first. In the daytime that is the surgery's own number; overnight and at weekends it is 111. A doctor or a paramedic needs to attend and confirm the death before anybody else can do anything. If the death was expected, this is usually straightforward.

Once that has happened, ring us. It does not matter what time it is. We will come out, and we will bring your relative into our care at the branch nearest to you.

Two things people often ask, so we will answer them here. You do not have to be ready for us to come immediately. If you want time in the house first, say so and we will come later. And you are not expected to have made any decisions about the funeral before we arrive. We are only coming to collect.

If the death was sudden, or the coroner is involved

The coroner is involved when a death was unexpected, when it followed an accident, or when no doctor is able to certify the cause. It is a routine part of the system and it does not mean anything has gone wrong.

In these cases your relative will be taken to the coroner's mortuary rather than to us, and the coroner decides when they can be released. We cannot collect until that happens.

Ring us anyway. We deal with the coroner's office regularly, we will chase on your behalf, and we can start making the arrangements that do not depend on the release. It is very often the case that the funeral is not delayed at all.

Registering the death

Once the medical examiner has sent the certificate to the register office, you have five days to register. That clock starts when the register office receives the certificate, not from the date of death, so do not worry if a few days have already passed.

You will need to make an appointment with the register office. Bring what you know about the person: full name, date and place of birth, occupation, home address, and their spouse's or civil partner's details if applicable. You will not be turned away for not knowing something.

The registrar will give you a green form. That is the one we need in order to go ahead with the funeral, and you can bring it in or ring us and we will collect it.

If you would rather we came with you to the appointment, we will. We do it fairly often.

What happens when you ring us

Whoever answers will ask a small number of questions: your name and number, where your relative is, and whether the death has been certified. That is all we need to make a start.

If your relative needs collecting, we will arrange a time with you there and then. If they are already at the hospital or with the coroner, we will take it from there and ring you back.

Then we will offer you an appointment to sit down and arrange the funeral properly, at whichever of our three offices suits you, or at your home if you would rather not come out. That appointment usually lasts an hour or two and there is no charge for it, whether or not you decide to go ahead with us.

Things that genuinely can wait

People wear themselves out in the first week trying to do everything at once. Almost none of it is urgent:

• Telling banks, pension providers and utilities. This is easier once you have the death certificate, and most of it can be done through the government's Tell Us Once service at the register office.
• Probate and the will. Nothing about the funeral depends on it.
• Clearing the house.
• Deciding on flowers, cars, music or an order of service. We will go through all of that with you at the arrangement appointment.