Tell Us Once: what the service does and what it misses

You have just registered a death at the local register office. The registrar hands you a reference number and explains that you can now use something called Tell Us Once to notify several government departments in a single step. It sounds almost too convenient. In practice, the service is genuinely useful, but it has clear limits that catch families off-guard, often weeks after the funeral when the paperwork is still mounting.

Understanding precisely what Tell Us Once does, and what it leaves untouched, will help you plan the notification work realistically rather than assume it is finished when it has barely begun.

What Tell Us Once actually covers

Tell Us Once is a free service provided by central and local government. After a death is registered in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, the person handling the estate can use the reference number given by the registrar to report the death once to multiple departments simultaneously. The service contacts the following, where relevant:

• HM Revenue and Customs, to close or amend tax records, cancel tax credits and update self-assessment
• The Department for Work and Pensions, to stop benefits including State Pension, Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit
• The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, to cancel the driving licence
• His Majesty's Passport Office, to cancel the passport
• The local council, to cancel council tax discounts or single-person exemptions, and to end any Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction payments
• Veterans UK, if the deceased was receiving a war disablement pension or other veterans' payments
• The Public Guardianship Office in Scotland or the Office of the Public Guardian in England and Wales, where applicable

You can use the service online at gov.uk or by telephone. The reference number is valid for 28 days from the date of registration. Once submitted, the relevant departments write to the address you provide, usually within a few weeks, with any further steps they require.

That is the extent of it. For many families, the list above represents a meaningful saving of time and postage. But it is worth being precise about what is not included, because the omissions are where most of the administrative work actually lives.

What the service does not do

Tell Us Once touches only government bodies. It does not contact banks, building societies, insurers, pension providers, mortgage lenders, utility companies, subscription services, share registrars or any private institution. Each of those requires a separate notification, usually accompanied by a certified copy of the death certificate. Families often need several certified copies at once, because institutions rarely accept photocopies and will not pass documents between themselves.

The service also does not initiate probate or letters of administration. It does not file the deceased's final tax return, settle any outstanding Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax liability, or arrange for tax refunds owed to the estate. HMRC will contact the executor or administrator separately once it has processed the Tell Us Once notification, but that process can take time, and the estate cannot be fully wound up until HMRC confirms its position.

Equally, Tell Us Once does not cancel private pensions or workplace pensions. Those must be notified directly to the scheme administrator or pension provider, who will then assess whether a dependant's pension or lump-sum death benefit is payable. If the deceased held any private medical cover, life assurance or critical illness policy, the insurer must be notified separately, with the policy document and death certificate provided.

There is a broader point here. Tell Us Once is a notification tool, not an estate administration tool. It moves information between government computers. It does not move money, resolve disputes, transfer property or discharge liabilities. The administrative work that follows a death, particularly where there is a property, a business interest, investments, or assets in more than one country, remains substantial regardless of how smoothly the Tell Us Once submission goes.

Practically, the most useful thing an executor can do alongside Tell Us Once is to prepare a complete inventory of what the deceased owned and what they owed: accounts, policies, properties, shareholdings, liabilities, and the location of every relevant document. Without that inventory, it is easy to miss an asset or a subscription that continues billing the estate for months. The tell-us-once reference number expires; the estate does not.

If the deceased had made a Lasting Power of Attorney that was already registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, that registration does not transfer to the executor. An LPA ceases automatically on death, and the executor's authority derives from the will and, if probate is required, the grant of probate. These are distinct legal instruments and should not be confused.

A brief note on timing: in England and Wales, a death should generally be registered within five days unless a coroner is involved. Tell Us Once should follow promptly once registration is complete, both to stop ongoing benefit payments and to begin the process with HMRC. Delays can complicate the recovery of overpaid benefits or the calculation of any tax owed.

Families who take the time to document everything clearly before grief and urgency cloud the picture find the administration considerably more manageable. That documentation, stored somewhere accessible and up to date, is worth more than any single service or process.

Glenvault is designed to hold exactly that kind of documentation, ready for the people who will need it. You can create a private vault for your family at glenvault.com/signup.