Registering a death over Christmas

[TangoCharlieWhiskey]

Sorry for the sad subject but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of this please?
My step-aunt passed away yesterday & the bereavement services are closed until the 28th Dec by which time I have to of registered her death.
However I can't make an appointment without a death certificate and can't get a death certificate because the bereavement team aren't back in the office until the 28th.
My understanding is that I have to register her death in 5 days or face some sort of prosecution. Is there flexibility at this time of year? Should I book an appointment, even though I don't have any paperwork?
Any shared experiences would be most welcome.
Thanks

I’m so sorry to hear of your loss. Is there not a funeral director involved you may be able to ask them if they know?

Is it five days or five working days? I'd suspect it's the latter.

It's not. It's five calendar days. But I believe they are understanding that it can be tricky to get everything at this time of year.

Op, can you speak to the registrar and explain, to see what they say?

I'd call the registrar and make an appointment. I'm sure it is 5 working days, and they will be able to explain the process

I'm so sorry for your loss. There should be an emergency number on your council website under 'registering a death'. It's a number for the duty registrar when a person needs to bury someone at short notice due to religious beliefs but they should hopefully be able to answer your question.

My dad died Christmas week 4 years ago. I was told the time limit still applies. I'd call the Registery Office and they will advise. In my case they worked late to fit everyone in before the registration deadline

I agree to ring the registry office and let them know. They are usually lovely. Death certificates if the person dies in hospital are usually given that day or the next day, so this is an unusual delay. I had a delay in getting my parents death certificates as they died in a car crash. I rang the registry office who took some details and said they would make a note and just to ring them when I had the death certificate.

Ring them on the 28th. Not sure how you can be prosecuted for failing to register the death in time if it is impossible to do so (no-one there until the 28th).

It is 5 working days, so not the 28th anyway.

My mum died on Xmas day. We had to go back to the hosp on Boxing Day to get the certificate. We then had an appt with the registrar a couple of days later

Just done this myself. I was told the hospital do the death certificate and then pass it onto Register. They then called ME for an apppointment. All in all it took 10
days because hospital
took 4 days to do death certificate.

The hospital passing the death certificate to the registrar directly was brought in during covid. Some places have kept this, other places have went back to you need to collect the certificate.

Don’t worry, dh went to the coroner so it took 7 days and it was ok.

It’s five calendar days, but nothing will happen if the death isn’t registered within that timeframe due to bank holidays. If you are certain of getting the medical cause of death certificate from the hospital on the 29th I would book an appointment now for the 30th.

Sorry for your loss OP, this time of year does delay all the arrangements.

We helped a relative deal with this is normal times, not at Christmas. Relative should have done it as we weren't close but was not in a fit mental state to deal with it in terms of paperwork, attending appointment, arranging funeral etc - it saddens me to think of someone being under threat of prosecution on top?! Who would prosecute if you have been reasonable, tried to get an appointment over the period where offices are closed etc? It must be working days surely, and even then there must be people who don't meet the deadline (e.g. if we hadn't stepped in for my relative and after a quick Google we sorted it, she doesn't know how to use the internet or have an internet device - would she have been prosecuted?!).

@Fishwifer I am sure they would only prosecute if it looked like someone was trying to hide a death, or delay registering it for nefarious purposes.

28th will be day five?

Yes, but it sounds like op won't be able to book the appointment until then - and I'm not sure the chances of a same day appointment at this time of year will be particularly high.

I think it’s more a law for concealing deaths than bh getting in the way. You can’t order cremations without your death certificate green card.

You won't get in trouble. They can't expect you to have done it if the office isn't open. Don't worry.

Thanks everyone, just in case anyone else finds themselves in this position, Gov.uk makes it very clear:

Register the death within 5 days (8 days in Scotland) - this includes weekends and bank holidays.

Our county doesn't appear to have a number to call unfortunately but they make clear I can't make an appointment without the certificate from the hospital team who are away until the 28th. I agree with the replies which say, I can't register the death if the hospital hasn't provided the paperwork and so will get in touch with them on the 28th & emphasis the urgency.

Thanks for all you kind words and advice. Wishing you all a lovely festive break.

Don’t worry. Have a stiff drink and relax please. There are no fast track appointments as such. The Registrar will call you when they have the Death Certificate often in the same day but probably won’t be able to fit you in for a few days!

That is what they did with me

Perhaps you could send an email to notify registrar of the death asap and then follow up when document is available? That would show good faith / intention

My stepdad passed on the 13th at the hospital. He'd gone in for a chest infection and caught covid and didn't start treatment in a timely manner it's all just been so horrible and sad.

We were told it would all be sorted by Thursday (so 2 days after) so we thought we'd be able to see him at the funeral home at the end of the week or Mon at the latest. We weren't really prepared for how he would look at the bereavement centre in the hospital so it was really important to get him to the funeral home so we could say goodbye properly. It's been a total shitshow making an already devasting situation even more upsetting.

The hospital took a full week to prepare the paperwork that they needed to send over to the registar so we couldn't book in until they had it. It's been delay after delay. We got his death registered on Wednesday. Well past the 5 days in England. Nothing was said. Then to top it off the Registar didn't send the paperwork back to the funeral home for the cremation so that's had to be chased top.

I am so sorry for your loss. It's beyond shit.

My MIL died the Thursday before Good Friday. DH went back to the hospital the following Tuesday but the Dr who witnessed the death had been called to an emergency. The Dr was then off sick followed by a holiday. It was nearly 3 weeks before he got the death certiticate. No one said anything about any fine but it played havoc with trying the arrange the funeral.