Tell Us Once and Other Free Probate Services: A Guide for Executors
When someone dies, the administrative tasks that follow can be considerable. Fortunately, a range of free services exists to help executors and families manage death notifications, reduce paperwork, and find the right professional support. This guide leads with Tell Us Once, the UK government’s flagship notification tool, and covers the private-sector services that sit alongside it. GOV.UK also publishes a step-by-step guide to what to do when someone dies covering the wider process.
What is the Tell Us Once service?
Tell Us Once is a free UK government service that allows you to notify multiple government departments of a death simultaneously, using a single unique reference number provided by the registrar when you register the death.
Over 80% of deaths in the UK are now reported using Tell Us Once. It is one of the most practical tools available to any executor, and it costs nothing.
The service allows you to inform central and local government services of the death at one time, rather than having to write, telephone or even attend each service individually. For an executor working through a long list of tasks, that saving in time and effort is significant.
How to access it
When you register the death with the local register office, the registrar will give you a unique reference number and instructions for accessing the Tell Us Once service, either online or by telephone.
The service is available online 24/7 at gov.uk/tell-us-once or by phone on 0800 085 7308, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 4pm. The process takes around 15 to 20 minutes.
You must use the Tell Us Once service within 28 days of registering the death. It is worth acting promptly. There is no strict consequence for delay, but acting quickly helps prevent overpayments of benefits or pensions, which can create complications later.
What is covered by the Tell Us Once service?
Once you have submitted the relevant information, Tell Us Once will notify: HMRC, to deal with personal tax; the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), to cancel benefits and entitlements such as Universal Credit or State Pension; the Passport Office to cancel the passport and the DVLA, to cancel a driving licence and remove the person as the keeper of up to five vehicles; and the local council, to cancel Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, a Blue Badge, inform council housing services, and remove the person from the electoral register.
Tell Us Once will also contact some public sector pension schemes so that they cancel future pension payments. Veterans UK receives notification too, to cancel any Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments.
What you will need to hand
Before you start, gather the following details about the person who died:
- National Insurance number and date of birth
- Passport number and driving licence number (if applicable)
- Vehicle registration number
- Details of benefits or council services they received
- Details of any public sector or armed forces pension schemes
- The name, address and contact details of the person dealing with the estate, known as the executor or administrator.
What Tell Us Once does not cover
This is important. Tell Us Once does not notify any commercial organisations of the death and cannot arrange for redirection of post. Banks, building societies, utility companies, insurers, mobile providers and subscription services all fall outside its scope. For those, you need separate tools, described below. If you cannot use Tell Us Once at all, for example because the person died abroad, GOV.UK explains how to tell government departments yourself.
The Death Notification Service: notifying banks in one step
In June 2018, the Death Notification Service (DNS) launched to provide the recently bereaved with a service that notifies private sector businesses of a death. The DNS is a collaboration between a number of banks and building societies, allowing the reporting of a death to several major financial service providers via one simple notification service.
As of 2026, the DNS tells more than 40 banks and financial firms, including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, HSBC UK, Santander UK and Nationwide, with one form.
The DNS is a technology-driven solution, providing a secure internet-based portal to notify several financial institutions simultaneously. The portal collates the necessary information, carries out identification checks, and cross-references against the Government Records Office database to protect against fraudulent notifications.
Each notified institution then contacts you separately, normally within 10 working days, with its own bereavement process. The service is entirely free to use.
LifeLedger: a broader private-sector notification platform
LifeLedger’s easy-to-use online death notification service can help you notify over 1,000 companies across the UK of a death. You can manage every death notification from one place, contacting companies linked to the deceased in minutes. Companies available include banks, insurers, pension providers, gas, water, telecoms and internet providers.
This service is, and always will be, free to use for families. To help ensure this, LifeLedger charges professionals such as solicitors and probate firms to use the service to manage notifications on behalf of their clients.
You can track the progress of your death notifications online, directly contact the companies, and upload required documents in one place. That makes LifeLedger a practical choice if the estate involves a wide range of providers and you want a single dashboard to manage progress.
Settld: estate administration and notification combined
Settld is an award-winning service, specialising in simplifying bereavement administration. Settld can notify more than 1,200 service providers about a death, including social media companies, subscription services, energy firms and mobile providers. The basic service is free, and includes helping users close, transfer or amend accounts and obtain date-of-death balances for probate.
Settld was born with a mission to deliver an automated, secure bereavement notification platform for all non-government accounts, filling the gap that Tell Us Once leaves.
Using Settld, you only need to provide your details and documents once, using one form. As companies respond to Settld, you will see updates on your personal accounts dashboard, showing the status of each account and any associated documents. Until each account is closed, amended or transferred as required, it shows in pending status.
Note that Settld has since been acquired by The Estate Registry, a death notification business designed to create a more consumer-focused solution for estate administration. The free core service for families remains in place.
Stopping junk mail: The Bereavement Register and Deceased Preference Service
Two further free services handle a specific but important problem: the marketing mail that continues to arrive addressed to the person who died.
If someone you know has died recently or even years ago, The Bereavement Register can help reduce the amount of direct mail sent to their address. Unless companies are informed of a death, they will continue to send promotional mailings. By registering with this free service, the names and addresses of the deceased are removed from mailing lists, stopping most direct mail within as little as six weeks.
Registration is free for the bereaved. Direct marketing companies pay to access the database.
The Deceased Preference Service works in a similar way. Details of the person registered are shared with organisations including credit reference agencies and financial institutions, which use this information to check new credit applications and existing accounts, helping to detect and prevent fraudulent activity. That makes it useful for fraud prevention as well as reducing unwanted post.
The Mailing Preference Service deceased registration is a useful cross-check, covering a slightly different set of senders to the Bereavement Register and Deceased Preference Service. All three are free.
How The Probate Network helps executors find the right professionals
Notification services handle who to tell. Probate, however, also requires executors to find the right professionals: a solicitor to handle the legal process, a lender if the estate needs bridging finance before assets are released, or an insurance provider to protect the property.
Finding reliable, regulated professionals takes time. That is where The Probate Network’s free comparison service comes in. Executors can use the platform to find and compare SRA-regulated probate solicitors, FCA-regulated probate loan providers, and specialist probate insurance providers, all in one place.
The service is free to use. There is no obligation to proceed, and no single provider is favoured over another. You can independently verify any firm we introduce on the Law Society Find a Solicitor register or the FCA Financial Services Register. The Probate Network’s role is to match executors with the right professional for the specific estate, not to push a particular service.
Find a probate professional through The Probate Network or book a free legal consultation to discuss how a lawyer can help with the probate process.
FAQs
Q: What is covered by the Tell Us Once service, and what is not?
A: Tell Us Once covers central and local government departments: HMRC, DWP, DVLA, the Passport Office, the local council, Veterans UK, and some public sector pension schemes. It does not cover banks, utility companies, insurers, mobile providers, subscription services or any other private-sector organisation. For those, use the Death Notification Service, LifeLedger or Settld.
Q: How long do I have to use Tell Us Once after registering the death?
A: The service is free of charge and can be done either online or by using a dedicated phone line, at any time up to 28 days after the unique reference number has been issued. Act as soon as you can. Prompt notification prevents benefit or pension overpayments that may need to be repaid later.
Q: Are free probate services like LifeLedger and Settld safe to use?
A: Both are established UK platforms that verify identity to protect against fraud. The Death Notification Service cross-references against the Government Records Office database to protect against fraudulent notifications. As with any online service, use the official website addresses listed above and never share details via an unsolicited email or call.
Q: Do I need a solicitor for probate, and how do I find one?
A: Not every estate requires a solicitor, but many benefit from professional guidance, particularly where there is inheritance tax to calculate, property involved, or disputes between beneficiaries. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a qualified professional. You can compare SRA-regulated probate solicitors and book a free consultation through The Probate Network.
This article is for general guidance only and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and thresholds can change, and every estate is different. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a qualified professional. You can book a free legal consultation through The Probate Network, contact FCA-regulated probate loan providers, or speak to an FCA-regulated probate insurance specialist.
Sources
- GOV.UK – Tell Us Once service
- GOV.UK – What to do when someone dies: step by step
- GOV.UK – Reporting a death without Tell Us Once
- UK Finance – Death Notification Service launch
- Death Notification Service
- LifeLedger
- Settld / The Estate Registry
- The Bereavement Register
- Deceased Preference Service
- The Gazette – Tell Us Once explained
- Pension Protection Fund – Tell Us Once
- Today’s Wills and Probate – Settld acquisition
