Certificates for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships ordered on or after 23 December 2024 will be sent out from 6 January 2025.
Deaths
Register a death
If someone dies in Hackney, their death must be legally registered here, regardless of where they lived at the time of their death.
You must register the death within five days of the medical examiner or coroner notifying you that they have sent the necessary paperwork to Hackney Registration Service.
You can only register a death in person, by appointment. We do not offer a walk-in service for death registrations.
When booking your appointment online, you must pay for certificates using a credit or debit card (excluding American Express). After you complete the death registration, we will issue the certificates.
We do not issue certificates free of charge. The statutory fee for each certificate is £12.50.
the partner of the deceased (unmarried or not civil partnered)
a person who was present at the death
the person who is making funeral arrangements
the personal representative of the deceased
the occupier (for deaths within a hospital or public institution)
a person who found the body (for deaths that happened outside a hospital or public institution)
What you'll need to tell the registrar about the deceased
You will need to tell the registrar the following information about the deceased:
their full name at the time of death
any previous names used (including their maiden name if applicable)
their date and place of birth
their occupation
their last address
their marital status
the full name, date of birth and occupation of a surviving or late spouse or civil partner (if applicable)
It would be helpful if you could bring some of the deceased’s documents with you to your appointment. For example their passport, marriage certificate and proof of address. However, do not worry if you can’t bring these documents.
Death registration paperwork
The medical examiner or the coroner will send the relevant paperwork to Hackney Registration Services to register the death.
We are unable to accept any paperwork from anyone other than the medical examiner or the coroner.
If the medical examiner sends us the paperwork, we can issue the green certificate for burial or cremation. We will send it to your chosen funeral director, crematorium, or cemetery.
If the coroner sends us the paperwork, they will send the order for burial or cremation to your chosen funeral director, crematorium, or cemetery.
Contact the medical examiner or coroner
You can contact the medical examiner for Hackney or the coroners who cover deaths in Hackney using the details below.
Some deaths have to be reported to the coroner before they can be registered, or the funeral can take place. This is usually when the death is sudden or unexpected.
The coroner will start an investigation to establish the cause of death of the deceased. They may or may not perform a post-mortem examination to establish this.
If the cause of death is clear after investigating, the coroner will issue paperwork and send it to Hackney Registration Service. You will need to attend a death registration appointment if this is the case.
If the cause of death is unclear or there are questions around the circumstances of the death, the coroner will hold an inquest to establish this information. They may issue you an ‘interim certificate’ while the investigation is taking place. You can use the interim certificate to arrange the funeral and deal with some of the deceased’s affairs.
Once they complete the inquest, they will send us the necessary information so we can register the death.
If an inquest takes place, a death registration is not required. Once you receive notification that the inquest has been completed, you will need to order copies of the final death certificate instead.
Deaths outside of Hackney (within England and Wales)
If a death occurs outside of Hackney, but within England and Wales, you can make a declaration of death at the Hackney Registration Service. However, Hackney Registration Service will not be able to issue you with any death certificates or funeral paperwork.
We will send the details of the death to the registration district where the death occurred. Once they register the death, they can issue any death certificates and funeral paperwork you may need.
Out of hours registrars service (for urgent burials within 24 hours)
We provide our out of hours on call service to issue the green certificate for burial or cremation that is needed for a funeral to take place as soon as possible after death.
The service is available between 9am and 11am on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays (excluding Christmas Day).
The registrar on call will only issue the burial certificate if:
you can provide confirmation that the burial is taking place within 24 hours
the death has been scrutinised by the medical examiner and we have received the correctly completed MCCD from them
the death or stillbirth does not have to be reported to the coroner
the body is not being removed from England or Wales
you can provide the name, email address and telephone number of the person who will be responsible for booking a death registration appointment
We advise that you wait until the green certificate for burial or cremation has been sent to the chosen funeral director before inviting loved ones to the funeral and finalising any arrangements.
There is no legal basis for the mortuary or the persons holding the body to require sight of the green certificate for burial or cremation to release the body. The certificate is not intended for this purpose. We will not issue the certificate unless you meet the criteria above.
Taking a body abroad
To take a body abroad, you must book a death registration appointment and attend in person, Monday to Friday, between 9am to 4.30pm.
Poplar Coroners Court, managed by Camden Council, handles deaths in Hackney. The coroner only grants permission to take a body out of England or Wales during working hours (Monday to Friday). You must register the death before the deceased can be repatriated.
After registering the death, your funeral director must contact Poplar Coroners Court for the repatriation paperwork.
Register a stillbirth
A stillborn child is a child born after the 24th week of pregnancy who did not breathe or show any sign of life at any time after birth.
All stillbirths must be registered in the district in which the event took place, normally within 42 days.
Although they are called copies they are legally recognised, watermarked documents. Many organisations refer to them as the original certificate. They are not photocopies.
You can order a certificate for a death that happened in Hackney from us.
All certificates issued are certified copies of an entry.
Standard certificate orders:
£12.50 per certificate, plus postage fees
processed and dispatched within 20 working days
Express certificate orders:
£38.50 per certificate, plus postage fees
processed and dispatched within 10 working days
How long it takes for you to receive your order once it’s been dispatched depends on the delivery option selected when placing your order.
If for any reason we cannot produce your requested certificate, we will process a partial refund instead.
To help us find your entry, please make sure that you provide all of the information we ask for.
If for any reason we cannot produce your requested certificate, we will process a partial refund instead.
We will retain £5 of the amount paid as a search and administration fee, and process a refund for the remaining amount back on to the original payment card.
Please allow up to 10 working days for the amount to be credited back to your account.
Correct an error on a death certificate
You must make all correction applications in person at the Hackney Service Centre.
You do not need to book an appointment to submit your application.
You can apply to correct a death registration when the information recorded is wrong. For example, if there is a mistake in the spelling of the deceased’s name or their place of birth.
You need to bring your completed correction form and the original documents showing the correct information. We will check through your application and documents. We take the required fee from you at our office.
Correction fees
Depending on the error there is a non-refundable correction consideration fee of either £83 or £99.
This is a statutory fee set by the General Register Office. It is not set by us.
The non-refundable correction consideration fee is separate from the cost of new certificates. New certificates, after we’ve made the correction, cost £12.50 each. You must order a new certificate online after we’ve made the amendment.
Documentation proving the registration is wrong
You’ll need to show that the information given at the time of the registration was wrong.
You must include original documents with your application that show what the correct information should have been.
These documents should be valid or dated around the time of the death.
Accepted documents include (but are not limited to) a:
passport
photocard driving licence
bank, building society or credit card statement
letter from a hospital or doctor
letter from a government department
utility bill
If you cannot submit proof, we usually cannot make corrections.
Timescales for corrections
We can complete correction applications that cost £83 at our office. It can take at least 10 working days to process and amend your application. Avoid contacting us for an update until after 10 working days have passed.
We will send correction applications that cost £99 to the General Register Office because we cannot approve them. It can take the General Register Office at least 25 working days to assess your application. Avoid contacting us for an update until after 25 working days have passed.
What the correction will look like
Corrections to entries are made in a very specific way. The original (incorrect) information as it was first given will always be displayed.
A marginal note will be written against the registration that explains what the correct information should be and the date the correction was made.
Depending on when the entry was originally registered, the marginal note can appear at the bottom of the page or at the side of the page.
Any certificates issued from that point on will include the note in the margin.
Telling government, financial institutions and other organisations
When someone dies, there are lots of things that need to be done, at a time when you probably least feel like doing them.
Tell us once
This is a free service that allows you to tell multiple local and central government agencies about a death, at the same time.
Once the death has been registered, a registrar can provide you with a reference number that you will need in order to access the service.
Some of the government agencies that the tell us once service notifies include:
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – to deal with tax and cancel benefits
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – to cancel benefits, eg income support
Passport Office – to cancel a passport
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) – to cancel a driving licence
your local council – to cancel housing benefit, council tax benefit, a blue badge, inform council housing services and remove the person from the electoral register
public sector or armed forces pension schemes – to stop pension payments
Life Ledger is a free and easy-to-use service that allows families to inform a variety of businesses and organisations connected to the deceased.
Using the service can be time saving and removes the need to have the same difficult conversation over and over as the notifications are all sent from one place.
Notifications about the death can be sent to banks, credit card companies, energy suppliers, phone and broadband providers and social media accounts to name a few.
Please visit the Life Ledger website to use this service or to find out more information about the services that they provide.
Death notification service
The death notification service is a free service which allows you to notify multiple banks and building societies of a person’s death, all at once.
Their aim is to make the process as quick and easy as possible for the bereaved.
The National Bereavement Service is a not-for-profit organisation that provides free practical advice, emotional support and legal assistance to families going through a bereavement.
They can offer assistance with funeral costs and probate as well as other legal and financial matters which many find difficult to deal with after losing a loved one.
The free service can be accessed by phone, email or live webchat.
Funerals, bereavement support and protecting people’s assets
Funeral services
You will have many options to choose for the funeral and in some cases the deceased may have already planned their own funeral in advance.
If a person has no relatives who are willing or able to arrange a funeral, the council will arrange a cremation or burial. This is called a Public Health Funeral.
If a person who is taken ill or dies has no relatives able or willing to make the necessary arrangements, we will protect their property and assets. Landlords also have certain responsibilities.