If someone has just died.
Take a breath. In the first day or two, very little has to happen immediately — and the few things that do can be done in a calm, clear order.
Below is what comes first, what can safely wait, and where to find practical help.
Nothing here asks you to sign up or pay.
Open the first-week guideFree. No sign-up. Opens straight away.
The first 48 hours, in order
There is no long list to get through today. These are the only steps that belong to the first day or two — taken one at a time, in this order.
Get a doctor to confirm the death
If the death was expected and at home, call their GP surgery. If it was sudden, unexpected, or you are unsure, call 999. In a hospital or care home, the staff there will guide the first steps. There is no need to do anything else in the same hour.
Collect the medical certificate
A doctor provides a medical certificate of cause of death. You will need it to register — so keep it safe, but there is nothing further to do with it on the first day.
Tell the people closest, and rest
Beyond confirming the death, very little has to happen on the first day. Tell the people who need to know. Eat something. Sleep if you can. The administrative steps can wait until you are steadier.
Register the death
The death must be registered within 5 days of the medical examiner's office confirming you can register, in England and Wales (8 days in Scotland), usually at the local register office by appointment. They will explain the free Tell Us Once service and give you the documents the next steps need.
Then — and only then — the rest
The funeral director, the will, the bank accounts, the house: these come after registration, not before. They can be taken one at a time, over days and weeks. None of them belong to the first 48 hours.
If someone has died and you are not sure whether to call 999 — call. They will tell you what to do. There is no wrong way to ask for help.
What Tell Us Once covers — and what it doesn't
Tell Us Once is a free government service the register office sets up when you register the death. With one report it notifies most government departments, so you do not have to contact each separately. It does not reach private organisations — those you handle yourself, in your own time.
Free guides, for when you need them
Three short documents — open straight away, no account, nothing to buy.
Day 1 Registration Brief
What to bring to the register office, what the registrar will give you, and how Tell Us Once works. For the registration appointment only — not the full first week.
The First Week
The seven-day sequence after a death — what to do, in order, with the specific contacts, forms, and timings for each step.
Tell Us Once Companion
What Tell Us Once covers, what it misses, and what you need to notify yourself — so nothing slips through the gap.
Common questions
When you are ready, not before
The first-week guide
The same calm order, free and open straight away, so you can put it down and return whenever you are ready.
Go to this pageNaming someone, for later
When things are steadier — the named contact who spares the next family this search. Nothing to do today.
Go to this pageHelping the rest of the family
Getting everyone onto one shared picture of where things are, so no family has to search like this again. For when you are ready.
Go to this pageYou do not have to hold all of this at once.
One step at a time is enough. The first-week guide stays with the order, so you can put it down and come back to it whenever you are ready.
Open the first-week guideFree · no sign-up · opens straight away