Register a death within 5 days - what if we can't?

Zarniw00p

Hello,

My Mum sadly passed away on Thursday evening (5th Sep).  Responsibility for registering her death at a Register Office falls to my Dad, with our support.

In England, guidance says you must register the death within 5 days.

Guidance on gov.uk specifically says this 5 day figure includes weekends.  Guidance from the hospital specifically says it does *not* include weekends.  Guidance on this site quotes the 5 day requirement but doesn't clarify further.

We were told yesterday afternoon that the certificate has been sent to the registry.  I've been looking online where we can book an appointment for, but no nearby office has any availability until 5 days have passed (earliest is next Wednesday).

Searching online for this scenario brings up several scary quotes such as it being a criminal offence, and financial penalties.

My gut tells me that it will be ok if we can't do it in that timeframe, and that figure is given just so people treat it as urgent.

I don't want to burden Dad with anything extra than he's already dealing with.  I guess I'm just after reassurance that if it takes, say, 6 or 7 days, there aren't any meaningful consequences.

If anyone can clarify, offer their own experience, or advise, my siblings and I would be very grateful.

Thank you,

Paul

p00hsticks

I'm sorry for your loss. 
I can't see how you can possibly been penalised for not registering the death if there are no appointments available. 
I'd suggest ringing the registry rather than just looking online to see what they say - they'll hopefully either be able to reassure you as to the timescales or prioritise an appointment for you. 

from personal experience it took eight calendar days for me to register my fathers death earlier this year, but as his death was sudden it required a post-mortem to establish the cause of death, and in such circumstances the coroners office told me that the clock for registering the death is put on hold for the time he was with the coroner. 

Newly_retired

In my husband’s case, he died late on a Thursday, the hospital passed the documents to the registrar, who rang me the following Wednesday to offer me an appointment on the Friday. No penalties. 

Keep_pedalling

As her child there is nothing stopping you registering the death it does not have to be your father.

Flugelhorn

Keep_pedalling said:

As her child there is nothing stopping you registering the death it does not have to be your father.

agree - I registered my father's death  - it really doesn't have to be your Dad who does this.

I have known of people who have been abroad when a relative died and they spoke to the registrar who accepted that they would come in to register when they were back.

So long as an appointment is booked nothing is going to happen at all. 

beckstar1975

Our council is hopeless and we couldn't get appts to register deaths or births within the time frame but we had booked during this time. That was fine, when we queried it they said as long as you had tried within the toner they weren't fussed.

Sorry for your loss

user1977

If anybody ever gets prosecuted, it's going to be those who take more determined efforts to cover up a death, not those merely waiting a few days for an appointment.

marcia_

I registered my sisters death months after due to an oversight. No come back from anybody. 

poppystar

In my experience  around here if someone dies in hospital it takes longer than five days for the hospital to send what they have to, so appointments are always later than that. 

Flugelhorn

poppystar said:

In my experience  around here if someone dies in hospital it takes longer than five days for the hospital to send what they have to, so appointments are always later than that. 

there can the situation in both hospital and GP practice that there has to be a "conversation" with the coroner over a death cert - advice is given and agreed on and this can take time before the cert is issued. Also the cert has to be done by someone who was caring for the person in their last illness - sometimes they are away for a few days or gone on holiday etc and that can delay things while they find someone who is eligible to do the cert 

Zarniw00p

Dear all,

Thank you for your helpful comments, examples, and kind wishes.

It's very reassuring to know that this won't become an issue - it removes an element of stress from the many tasks we have in the coming days.

I'll add that Dad is capable and wants to register the death (one of us will be there also).  We just want to minimise any potential problems, and everyone's comments here have been very helpful in that respect.

Thank you again,

Paul