The 'Tell Us Once' Service

The ‘Tell Us Once’ Birth and Bereavement service was developed jointly by local authorities and central government, and was implemented in over 96 per cent of councils nationwide towards the end of 2011.  The ‘Tell Us Once’ service enables customers to inform government just once about a birth or death and for this information to then be shared (with their consent) across other government services.

As well as this improvement in the experience for the customer, 24 organisations across central and local government receive accurate and verified customer information from a trusted source, often within hours.  This brings valuable benefits to local and central government in saving both time and money.

For example, once the local authority is notified of the death, they can then contact the Passport Service to cancel a passport or the Pension Service to cancel a State Pension or the DVLA to cancel a Driving Licence.  This means, you only have to register the death once, making your life a lot easier at a difficult time.

For Kings Court Trust, this means that many organisations are already aware of the death and identity of the Executor/Next of Kin prior to us registering our documentation with them.  For example, when the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) receives a letter from our specialist tax team, they will already be aware of the death.  They have received this information internally prior to our correspondence, so we are reinforcing a fact which they are already aware of,  rather than being the first to tell them.  This circumvents any confusion that may have previously arisen.

This is a very useful service for all aspects of estate administration and is helping Kings Court Trust to continue to provide the highest standard of customer service to our clients.

If you would like further advice following a bereavement or information about Kings Court Trust services, then please call our Free Probate Advice Line on 0300 303 9000.