Positive take up for new Tell Us Once service

Shropshire Council has teamed up with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to deliver the Tell Us Once service which, with the authority of the person registering, can be used to notify relevant Government departments, agencies and council services of a birth or bereavement.

Since its launch at the beginning of December 2011, Shropshire Council’s new Tell Us Once service has received a positive take up.

In the nearly three weeks since the Tell Us Once service was launched there has been a 63% and 58% take up of the service from residents registering a birth and death respectively.

For someone who has experienced a bereavement or birth there are lots of things which need to be done.  Contacting Government departments and local council services can take a considerable amount of time and, until now, these departments needed to be contacted individually.

By opting for the Tell Us Once service, residents can now benefit from a more joined-up notification service provided through a single point of contact.

Under the new service, a local registrar can now support a new parent or recently bereaved person through a step-by-step process that will automatically notify central and local government of their change in circumstances.  Customers have to opt to use the Tell Us Once service at the time of making their appointment to register the birth or death. 

It is essential that those parents, wishing to notify births, have with them a completed child benefit application form, details of any benefits which they may be receiving, and their national insurance numbers. 

Those people who are registering a death and wish to take up the service will need the national insurance numbers of the deceased, details of any benefits or services which they were in receipt of, and if the deceased had a passport or a driving licence, these documents also.  If you are registering the death and are not next of kin you will need the dates of birth, full names of the next of kin, their national insurance number and their permission to share their information with us.

Registering a death can be overwhelming; that is why we want to help remove the burden of sorting paperwork, and assist relatives when they need it most.  By notifying up to 28 different services on their behalf, Tell Us Once is a much easier way for bereaved families and new parents to report their change in circumstances to the relevant authorities. Overall, a person using the Tell Us Once service can expect to contact Government seven fewer times when compared to previous arrangements.

Councillor Tina Woodward, deputy Cabinet member for customer services, said:

“I am really pleased that Shropshire’s Tell Us Once service has already shown an extremely positive take up.  There are times in everybody’s lives better spent with family than dealing with different Government offices.  Tell Us Once removes red tape and gives time back to families when they need it most.

I hope these figures encourage more residents to take up this service.”

For more information about Tell Us Once and the service being provided in Shropshire, please call 0345 678 9016 or visit our website at shropshire.gov.uk/tellusonce.