The Social Security Agency has launched a new "one-call" bereavement service to help surviving relatives check if they are entitled to benefits, including help to cover funeral expenses, the BBC reported recently.

The first task following the death of a loved one is usually to register their death. This is because, in England and Wales, you have up to five days to register the death. It is the start of the process and needs to be done before you can begin making any funeral arrangements.

The town council in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, has changed its burial policy after a complaint by a grieving family, the Oxford Times reported recently.

Most people are aware of the benefits of writing a Will, but it is also a good idea to arrange another legal document called a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), to ensure that there is someone legally able to handle your affairs when you are no longer able to do so.

With technology becoming more and more prevalent in our daily lives and more photos, books and music collections moving online, it begs the question – when we die, what happens to the digital trail we leave behind?

New recipients of bereavement aid will receive more monetary support in the year after their spouse dies to help relieve the immediate financial strain following the loss of a loved one. However, under the new rules that aim to bring widowed people back on their feet and into the labour market more quickly, families could lose thousands of pounds in long term benefits.

The Ministry of Justice has supported legislative changes on presumption of death to make it easier for grieving relatives of missing people to resolve complicated financial and legal issues.

The story starts with me heading north on the M6 one sunny Sunday afternoon in 2009. I was on my motorcycle going to meet a friend for a few days motorcycling around the Lakes. Then I was to meet my wife in Glasgow for a family re-union and a visit to Turnberry to see Tiger Woods in the British Open as a special birthday treat.

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.