Registering a death

CHORLEY
New process have been introduced where your GP surgery, hospital, residential care home or hospice will send the Borough Registrar an electronic copy of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD), along with your contact details.

A registrar will contact you to make arrangements to register the death.

Chorley registrar contact number: 01257 263143

BOLTON
New process have been introduced where your GP surgery, hospital, residential care home or hospice will send the Borough Registrar an electronic copy of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD), along with your contact details.

To register a death in Bolton you will need to call 01204 331185 to book a telephone appointment to register the death. They will then give you a specific time and date in which they will call you back.

Tell Us Once scheme 
Tell Us Once is a government service that lets you report a death to most government organisations in one go.

When you register the death the registrar will:

• let you know if the service is available in your area
• give you the phone number
• give you a unique reference number to use the Tell Us Once service online or by phone

See our Tell Us Once Scheme page for more information

Notifying Companies

A number of services, including Life Ledger and Settld, provide, via a single registration process, notification of banks, utilities, pension and insurance providers, credit card and store card companies, mobile, broadband and TV operators and many more. Through a single, secure FREE account, this can greatly simplify what can be a very onerous and overwhelming process at an already most stressful time.  

For more information on these services see http://www.lifeledger.com and http://www.settld.care

Death Certificate
The document to allow the funeral to proceed once issued, will now be sent electronically to funeral directors. Copies of death certificates can be ordered at a cost of £11 each at the time of your telephone appointment.

Who can register a death?
The majority of deaths are registered by a relative of the deceased. For registration purposes a relative is defined to be the nearest relative of the deceased and that person will always take priority. If there is no living relative the informant can be someone from the lists below.  The lists are in order of preference:

If the death occurred in a house or hospital:

– A relative of the deceased
– Surviving civil partner
– Someone present at the death
– The occupier of the house or hospital if he or she knew of the death
– Another person living at the house if he or she knew of the death
– The person making the arrangements with the funeral directors

If the death occurred elsewhere:

– A relative of the deceased
– Surviving civil partner
– Someone present at the death
– Someone who found the deceased
– A person in charge of the deceased
– The person making the arrangements with the funeral directors

Certificate for burial or cremation
When you register a death in the majority of cases the registrar will issue a certificate (green form) for the burial or cremation of the body.

If you are making the funeral arrangements you will need to hand it to the funeral director.

A funeral cannot proceed until this certificate is given to the burial authority or the crematorium.

If there is a delay to the registration of a death, the registrar can still issue a certificate for burial before registration but only if the death does not need to be reported to the coroner.

Please note the registrar won’t be able to issue a certificate for cremation before the registration of the death.

If a death has been reported to the coroner, he or she may issue a certificate for burial or cremation where possible.

What do you do after registering a death?
The deceased’s Will, property and finances can be handled once the death certificate has arrived and you will be able to lay your loved one to rest when the Certificate for Burial or Cremation has been filled in and given to your funeral director. You will be able to start arranging the perfect send-off for your loved one.

We are here to help
If you’re unsure, we’ll be happy to run through the various options. For more information and advice please contact us.