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The Death Notification Service lets you tell several banks and building societies about a death with one online form. You fill in the details of the person who died, tick the firms they held accounts with, and the service passes the notification on. It is free, and it is run by Equiniti — a private company, not the government.
A death notification service lets you tell several organisations about a death with one submission instead of contacting each in turn. There are two different things people often confuse. The Tell Us Once service is run by government and covers government organisations only. The Death Notification Service is a private service run by Equiniti and covers participating banks, building societies, share registrars and some insurers. Neither replaces the other.
You can use the Death Notification Service as soon as you know the death has happened — you do not have to wait until you have registered the death or received certificates, because proof of death is not needed to make the notification.
Free, online, created and run by Equiniti and supported by the organisations that take part. It is not a government service.
Plenty of well-known names are not part of the service — for example TSB, Metro Bank, Virgin Money, The Co-operative Bank, Monzo, Starling, Yorkshire Building Society, Skipton Building Society and Coventry Building Society.
These two services are routinely mixed up, and getting them the wrong way round wastes time.
The service's own guidance is explicit that it is “a separate, independent service” that is “not linked to or a replacement for Tell Us Once”, and says it should be used alongside it.
Less than people expect. The service does not ask for proof of death to make the notification:
Individual firms may ask for a certified copy of the death certificate later, when they set out their own next steps.
Some organisations will only release money once a grant of probate is issued, though none of them need it before you can report the death. If you are not sure whether probate is needed at all, the do I need probate checker can give you a quick answer.
The Death Notification Service is a free online service run by Equiniti. You fill in one form with the name, date of birth, date of death and last address of the person who died, plus your own details, and tick the member organisations you want told. Each member then contacts you separately with its own next steps. It is not a government service and it does not replace Tell Us Once.
Yes. The Death Notification Service states that it is free to anyone making a notification. You are never asked to pay to report a death to a bank.
You need the person's full name, date of birth, date of death and last address, plus your own name, address and date of birth. Account details are helpful but optional. You are not required to provide proof of death to make the notification, though individual firms may ask for a certified copy of the death certificate at their next step.
No. They are separate services and neither replaces the other. Tell Us Once is the government service and covers HMRC, DWP, the Passport Office, DVLA, the local council, Veterans UK and Social Security Scotland. The Death Notification Service is a private service run by Equiniti covering participating banks, building societies, share registrars and some insurers. Utilities are covered by neither.
Where a member organisation finds a live account for the person, it contacts you within 10 working days of the notification, allowing for post. If it holds no account for them, it will not write back at all — so no reply is not necessarily a problem.