Tell Us Once

When someone dies, we can help you contact the people who need to know, such as government departments and the local authority if your loved one used any services or claimed any benefits.

Slough Borough Council provides a service call Tell Us Once, where all you have to do is to give us all the details needed and we will let these organisations know for you.

How the service can help you

When someone has died, their death needs to be registered with the Registrar. Once this is done, several organisations may have to be contacted and given the same information. We’re providing a new service where we can help you give the information to the Department of Work and Pensions so they can pass it on to a number of other government departments and local authority services.

How can you use the service

Once you have registered the death with a registrar, there are a number of ways you can use the service:

In person
At the time of registration of the death. Slough Register Office is open Monday to Friday between 09:00 am - 4:30 pm. Registration is by appointment, so please ring 01753 787600 to arrange an appointment with us to register the death and to advise us if you wish to use the Tell Us Once service.

Online*
Go to DirectGov - Reporting a death.

Telephone*
If you would rather speak to someone on the phone, you can call the Department for Work and Pensions on 0800 085 7308. Lines are open Monday to Friday between 8 am - 8 pm. This number is free to call from a BT landline, but other providers, including mobile phone providers may charge you.
If you don’t speak English, call them on 0800 085 7308 and one of the advisors and an interpreter will call you back and help.

*NB: You must register the death and obtain your reference number before using the telephone or online services.

Who we can give information to

• Department for Work and Pensions 
• The Pension, Disability and Carers Service 
• Jobcentre Plus
• Overseas Health Team
• HM Revenue and Customs
• Child benefit
• Child tax credit and working tax credit
• Identity and Passport Service
• Housing benefit office
• Council tax benefit office

These organisations can also be contacted if you ask us to do so:

• Council housing
• Council tax
• Libraries
• Blue badges
• Adult services
• Children’s services
• Collection of payment for council services
• Electoral services
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA )

How we will treat the information you give us

The information you give us is strictly confidential and secure. The organisations we contact will use the information to update records, to end services, benefits and entitlement as appropriate and to resolve any outstanding issues.
They may use the information we give them in other ways, but only as the law allows.

This service is committed to ensuring that your information is protected. Our privacy statement tells you how we will use and protect the information you provide, please ask the registrar if you wish to see the full privacy statement.

Please remember that it is your responsibility to ensure that all organisations, that pay you a benefit / credit or provide a service to you, have correct and up to date information about you.

Information you will need to use the service

To make sure the right information is given to organisations and to make sure you get the most out of the service, it will help if you can bring the following information about the person who has died:

• their National Insurance number and date of birth
• details of any benefits or services they were receiving
• their driving licence or driving licence number
• their passport or passport number.

We may also ask for information about:

• their next of kin
• any surviving husband, wife or civil partner
• the person dealing with the estate.

Next of kin

If you are the next of kin (closest relative by blood or marriage to the deceased), your entitlement to benefits may change, 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 Tell Us Once service as long as you have the permission from these people to act on their behalf and to provide information about them.