Who to Inform When Someone Dies

What this is for

After a death, a surprising number of organisations need to be told: government departments, the bank, the pension provider, the council, the energy supplier, the GP. Each call brings a new reference number, a name, and often a request for a document. Spread over several weeks and several family members, it becomes very hard to remember who has already rung whom. This list keeps all of it in one place, so the same bank is not phoned twice and nothing is left out.

The printable version is an A4 landscape log. Eighteen organisations are already written in the first column, starting with the register office and Tell Us Once, then HMRC, DWP, pensions, banks and building societies, insurers, the council, utilities, Royal Mail, DVLA and the GP, with blank rows for others. For each one there are columns for Phone / reference, Date, By (initials), Documents sent, a Done tick and Outcome / next step. A box at the top notes that Tell Us Once can pass the news to HMRC, DWP, DVLA, the Passport Office and the council, so you can see which rows it may already cover.

The Excel version holds the same list on a Notify tab, with a few more columns and room for many more rows. Type and Status are dropdowns, Waiting rows turn amber and Done rows turn green, and two counts at the top show how many are done and how many are still to do. It opens in Google Sheets, which makes it easy for two or three relatives to work from the same copy. It is a record, not advice; for anything with legal or tax consequences, follow what the organisation or a solicitor tells you.

How to fill it in

1. Write the name of the person who died and the date of death in the boxes at the top. You will be asked for both on almost every call.
2. Start with the register office row. When you register the death, ask the registrar about Tell Us Once. If you use it, note the date in the log and put "covered by Tell Us Once" in Outcome / next step against HMRC, DWP and DVLA. Those three rows say "if not covered" because you only need to contact them yourself if Tell Us Once did not reach them, or if you live in Northern Ireland, where the service is not available.
3. Work through the private organisations next: banks and building societies, credit cards, pensions, life insurance, then home and car insurers. These are never covered by Tell Us Once. Many have a bereavement team or an online form, which is often quicker than the main phone line.
4. For every contact, fill in the Phone / reference column with the number you used and any reference they give you. Write the name of the person you spoke to in Outcome / next step, with what they said will happen. Put your initials in By, so others know who to ask.
5. In Documents sent, write exactly what you posted or uploaded: "copy of death certificate", "will, copy". Most organisations will want a death certificate now and, later, the grant of probate. Send copies rather than originals unless an organisation insists on seeing an original, and note if they promise to return it.
6. Tick Done only when the organisation has confirmed the change in writing or the account is settled. Until then, write the next step and a date to chase.
7. Add rows at the bottom for anything not listed: a club, a charity they gave to regularly, a housing association, online accounts. For subscriptions and memberships, the accounts to close list has more detail, including monthly costs.
8. In the Excel file, pick a Type and a Status from the dropdowns for each row. The Status list is To do, In progress, Waiting, Done and Not needed. Use Waiting for anything that depends on a reply. The Done and Still to do counts at the top update as you go.
9. To share the spreadsheet, upload it to Google Drive, save it as a Google Sheet and use Share. Ask each person to put their name in Contacted by for the rows they take on.

A filled-in example

Common mistakes

• Assuming Tell Us Once has told everyone. It covers most government organisations but does not reach banks, pensions from former employers, insurers or energy suppliers. Those rows still need a call or a letter.
• Not writing down who you spoke to. When a letter does not arrive, "I rang in April" is much weaker than a date, a name and a reference number.
• Posting an original document, such as the will or a certificate you only have one copy of. Send copies unless you are told otherwise, and write in the log what you sent and to whom.
• Two relatives ringing the same organisation without knowing it. A shared sheet with a name against each row avoids repeated calls and mixed messages.
• Asking a bank to close a joint account when you only meant to report the death. The surviving account holder may still need it. Say clearly what you want to happen and check before closing anything.