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What You Need to Know

On the 26th March 2020 the law was changed in many areas to enable the registration of deaths and funeral arrangements to take place more easily under the coronavirus lockdown conditions.

From 24th March 2022 many of these areas will revert back to their original state.

This page explains:

1) What you need to do if you are registering a death before or after 24th March 2022

2) Current requirements or guidelines around attending funerals

3) Our position at A Natural Undertaking with regard to Coronavirus (COVID-19) safety.

What if the death was unexpected and / or the person died at home?

If the death was unexpected you should dial 999 and it is likely the death will be dealt with by the local coroner.

If it was expected you should call the person’s GP or on-call service.

1) Registering a Death up to 24th March 2022

When someone dies, the hospital, GP surgery or hospice will send the paperwork they would normally give to families, directly to the registry office electronically.

Registry offices are asking families either to phone or send an online contact form to them; they will then contact the families once they have received all medical paperwork to carry out the registration of death over the telephone. There is no requirement to physically attend the registry office and death certificates will be issued online.

As the 24th March draws nearer the registry offices may start to invite people to physically attend.

Registering a Death after 24th March 2022

The relevant medical team will continue to send their paperwork to the registry office electronically.

Registry offices are asking families either to phone or send an online contact form to them as per the links in the section above.

Once they have received all medical paperwork and family contact information, they will contact the family with an ‘in person’ registration appointment time.

It is likely that the registry offices will continue to email the green form directly to the funeral director immediately after the registration meeting.

Local Registry Office Pages

Here are some links to local registry office pages for you so you can identify the specific actions relevant to you: (the registry office you need relates to the physical location of the person at the time they died, eg they may have lived in Worcestershire, but died in a Birminghan hospital – Birmingham would therefore be the appropriate registry office)

Birmingham
Solihull
Worcestershire – including Redditch and Bromsgrove
Sandwell

2) Current requirements or guidelines around attending funerals

The laws have changed and government restrictions have been removed, however COVID-19 hasn’t gone away so there is still guidance that could be followed:

In order to stay safe the government still recommends the wearing of face coverings in crowded and enclosed spaces, especially when coming into contact with people you would not usually meet.

You might also wish to take a rapid lateral flow test if you suspect you may be going anywhere which could be high risk – funerals could be considered as such due to the potential for large numbers of people in an enclosed space.

3) Our position at A Natural Undertaking with regard to Coronavirus (COVID-19) safety

As a team which comes into contact with potentially vulnerable people, we are continually reviewing our safety practices and are focussed on keeping the families who come to us, our team and wider community safe.

We will continue to wear the additional PPE when visiting hospitals, care homes and hospices, and will always check that you are happy for us to wear face coverings when we meet with you in person – we’re happy to provide you with face coverings when you come to meet with us at our premises also if you need us to.

You are still welcome to meet with us virtually if you feel more comfortable doing so.

It goes without saying that if we find ourselves again in a position of increased risk to health then we will re-implement more stricter measures which were put in place over the last two years according to the level of severity.  But please be assured that we remain committed to caring for you and the people who have died as best as we possibly can at all times. Our knowledge and confidence of working with COVD-19 around us is strong, and we are in a much better position than we were in 2020.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about coronavirus/COVID-19 and funerals, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us by
calling 0121 444 0437 or by emailing funerals@anaturalundertaking.co.uk

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