Suggested legislative amendments put forward by the House of Lords would require government to review the current online tool, with a view to extending its reach beyond the public sector
The Department for Work and Pensions is examining whether and how it could expand the Tell Us Once digital service, which citizens can use to inform agencies across local and central government about the death of a loved one.
As part of the ongoing passage into law of the new Data (Use And Access) Bill, peers in the House of Lords have proposed amendments that would require government to undertake “a review of the operation of the Tell Us Once programme… and consider whether [its] pioneering progress… could be extended to non-public sector holders of data”.
Created in 2011 and delivered by the DWP, the online service can be used after the death of a resident of England, Wales or Scotland has been formally registered or reported to a coroner. The tool then enables citizens to undertake one single process to provide notice of the death to a range of public bodies, including: HM Revenue and Customs; HM Passport Office; the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; the local council in questions; Veterans UK; Social Security Scotland; and various public-sector pension schemes.
Setting out the proposed amendment during a House of Lords debate, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tim Clement-Jones said that “Tell Us Once is currently not working across all Government departments and does not apply to Northern Ireland; no updated equality impact assessment has ever been undertaken [and] while there are death notification services in the private sector, they are severely limited by not being a public service programme”.
He added: “There is low public awareness and take-up among all these services, as well as variable and inconsistent provision by the different companies. The fact that there is not one service for all public and private sector notifications means that dealing with the deceased’s affairs is still a long and painful process. The bill should be amended to require ministers to carry out a review into the current operation and effectiveness of the Tell Us Once service, to identify any gaps in its operation and provisions and make recommendations as to how the scope of the service could be expanded.”
In response, Baroness Maggie Jones – sponsor of the bill and minister for legislation at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – said that the government “can see the potential for expanding” the scope of Tell Us Once. But she advised her fellow members that doing so would present various challenges.
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“The current service is not in great shape in terms of its technology,” she said. “It has suffered from insufficient investment over time and it needs to be improved before we can take it to the next stage of its potential. We consider that the best way to address this issue is, first, to upgrade its legacy technology, which is what we are operating at the moment.”
She added that, while “work is already underway to try to bring it all up to date [and] we are looking to improve the current service and at the opportunities to extend it to more of government”, the government is currently “reluctant to commit to a review and further expansion of the service”.
A few months on from this debate, the Bishop of London Sarah Mullally – whose role comes with a place in the House of Lords – tabled a parliamentary to press the government on “what steps [it is] taking to upgrade the legacy technology systems in order to extend the operation of the Tell Us Once scheme”.
In response, the DWP’s ministerial representative in the Lords, Baroness Maeve Sherlock, indicated that the department was examining the possibility of a formal review of the service and how this might support ongoing work to update its underlying technology.
“We undertake continuous upgrading of the system to ensure its stability and extensibility,” she said. “Currently, we are considering all the modernisation options for upgrading the Tell Us Once service, part of which includes what type of review might be necessary. It also means better understanding how the service might expand to meet the needs of wider government in future. We will continue to work closely with government partners, third parties and citizens to ensure the Tell Us Once service meets citizens’ expectations. The most recent internal evaluations in February 2025 of customer feedback show a satisfaction score of 92% for the online service.”
The Data (Use and Access) Bill – which includes provisions to enable digital registration of death – was introduced to parliament in October. It has completed its passage through parliament’s upper chamber and is currently undergoing the report stage in the House of Commons.
