Coronavirus
Coronavirus has impacted how we provide registration services.
The Registrar now gets the contact details of the informant of the death and also the Medical Certificate Cause of Death (known as the death certificate) from the doctors or the hospital. It may take up to 3 working days before the Registrar is able to call you to carry out the death registration. The Registration Team will call the informant to arrange a suitable time to complete the registration. Death registrations are now done over the phone - but if you wish to come to the office let the team know and we will make an appointment for you. Once the death has been registered the Registrar will issue the Form 14 which is required by the Funeral Director before the funeral can proceed.
Some funeral arrangements can be made but funeral dates must not be finalised until the Funeral Director has received the certificate of registration from the registrar - the Form 14.
Note: The law allows a death to be registered in any registration district in Scotland.
Find your nearest office and make an appointment
Documents to bring
You must take with you:
- the medical certificate of cause of death
If you have them, please bring the deceased's:
- birth and marriage certificate
- NHS medical card
As long as you have the death certificate, do not worry if the other documents are not available. The registrar can still register the death.
Tell Us Once
Tell Us Once is a service we use to notify government departments, including Department for Work and Pensions and services in the council. You tell us which departments apply and we notify them for you, if the death occurred in Scotland. Use tell use once online.
BSL version of the video can be found here
Documents we will issue
We will provide:
- an abbreviated death certificate (if you require a full certificate this has a fee of £10.00)
- Form 14 for funeral director
If you do not use the Tell Us Once service to inform the Department for Work and Pensions, we will give you a BD8 form so you can notify them yourself.
For more information please visit National Records of Scotland website.
Death Certification Review
The Death Certification Review service checks on the accuracy of a sample of Medical Certificates of Cause of Death (MCCDs).
If the MCCD you bring to the registrar is selected, the registration cannot be completed until the review is finished. The registrar will contact you when the review is completed.
More information is on the Health Improvement Scotland website.