Tell Us Once

 

When someone has died...

• We can help you tell the people who need to know
• How the new service can help you?
• How you can contact us to use the service
• Who we can give information to
• We can also notify the following services, if you ask us to
• How we will treat the information you give us
• Information to bring to your appointment
• We may also ask you for information about
• Next of kin
• Template Letter
• Key Contacts

We can help you tell the people who need to know

When someone has died, there are lots of things that need to be done and often at a time when you least feel like doing them. One of those things is contacting the government departments and local authority services that need to be told.

Tameside Council is working with other Government departments to offer you a new service which we hope will make things easier. This new service means you can tell us and then we will tell a number of organisations.

How the new service can help you

When someone has died, their death needs to be registered with the registrar. Once that’s done, several other organisations may have to be contacted and given the same information.

We’re introducing a new service, where we help you give the information to the Department for Work and Pensions . They then pass it on to a number of government departments and local authority services.

How you can contact us to use the service?

 

There are different ways you can use the service:

• By telephone – If you would like more information about the telephone service, please ask the registrar when you register a death. The telephone service is offered by the Department for Work and Pensions. You need to have registered the death before you can use the phone service. If you wish to speak to an interpreter when using the telephone service, please request this when you ring and an interpreter will call you back and help you.
• Online – Make an online appointment for the Tell Us Once Bereavement service. Please note you can only make an appointment on-line if you are also making an appointment to Register the death. Otherwise please ring to make an appointment to use the Tell Us Once Bereavement service.

Tameside co-ordinates the response for all Local Authority Services so that the customer receives one joint response.

How long will the telephone service take?

A telephone call to the Department for Work and Pensions normally lasts approximately 10 minutes.

Who we can give information to

We will contact the following organisations if we need to:

• Department for Work and Pensions
  • The Pension Service
  • Disability and Carers Service
  • Jobcentre Plus
• HM Revenue & Customs
  • Child Benefit
  • Tax Credits
• Identity and Passport Service
• Housing Benefit Office
• Council Tax Benefit Office

Please note if you do not use Once you will need to inform the passport service yourself. For more information see the Directgov page on returning a deceased person's passport .

We can also notify the following services, if you ask us to

• Council Tax
• Libraries
• Blue badges
• Adult services
• Children’s services
• Collection of payment for council services
• Electoral services
• and the DVLA 

How we will treat the information you give us

We will treat all the information you give us securely. The organisations we give your information to will use it to update records, end services, benefits and entitlements as appropriate and resolve any outstanding issues. They may use the information we give them in other ways, but only as the law allows.
 

Information to bring to your appointment

We want to make sure we give the right information to any organisations we contact. So we will need the following information about the person who has died:

• The service reference number issued by the Registrar
• National Insurance No for Informant, Deceased & Next of Kin (if Known)
• Any useful Central Government/Local Authority Benefit/Entitlement Information
• If notifying Passport Services please bring passport (if still in date)
• If notifying DVLA please bring driving licence (if still in date)
• Bus Pass
• Blue Badge
• Death Certificate

There is also an Appointment Checklist in PDF format .

We may also ask you for information about

• Their next of kin
• Any surviving husband, wife or civil partner
• Anybody who is getting Child Benefit on their behalf
• The person dealing with their estate

You must obtain the agreement of the persons listed above, if you are going to provide us with information about them.

Next of kin

If you are the next of kin you may be entitled to an increase in benefits, so please have your own National Insurance number to hand when you contact us. If you are not the next of kin, or the person who is dealing with the deceased’s estate, you can still use the service if you have the authority to act on their behalf.

Please remember that it is still your responsibility to make sure any organisation that pays you a benefit has correct and up-to-date information.

Template Letter

Please find a bereavement letter template  which can be adapted to inform eg Utilities, Banks and Insurance Companies, rather than making numerous telephone calls.

Key Contacts

Bereavement Checklist available from Directgov website 

The Pension Service 
Department for Work and Pensions
Tel 0845 606 0265
Text phone 0845 606 0285

Jobcentre Plus 
Department for Work and Pensions
Hyde Benefit Delivery Centre
Tel 0845 608 8526
Text phone 0845 608 8536

Disability and Carers Service
Department for Work and Pensions
Benefit Enquiry Line
Tel 0800 88 22 00
Text phone 0800 24 23 25

HM Revenue & Customs
Tameside Council Offices
Wellington Road
Ashton Under Lyne
OL6 6DL  Tel 0131 777 4030 (bereavement helpline)

Tameside Housing and Council Tax Benefit
Tel 0161 342 8355
Text phone 0161 342 2012

Tameside MBC
Main contact centre – 0161 342 8355

DVLA 
Tel 0870 240 0009
Text phone 01792 766 366

Identity & Passport Service 
Tel 0870 521 0410
Text phone 0870 240 8090

CRUSE Bereavement Care 
Helpline 0844 477 9400
For support after a bereavement

Citizens Advice 
Ground Floor Office. Tameside MBC
Wellington Road. Ashton-under-Lyne
OL6 6DL

Advice times for Citizens Advice Bureau -
Mon to Friday 9.30 to 12.30 or
Reception open 9am to 5pm weekdays