Registration

Occasionally, if the death was sudden or the doctor treating the deceased is unavailable, it may not be possible to issue a medical certificate of cause of death. If this happens, the death will have to be reported to the coroner which may lead to a delay in registering the death.

The death must be registered in the district in which it took place within 5 days. The information about the person who has died is usually recorded on computer as well as in the death register and the person registering the death signs the record.

If the person registering the death can't easily go to the district where it took place, the information for the registration may be given to a registrar in another district. The registrar will record the details on a form of declaration and send it to the registrar for the appropriate district, who will enter the information in the death register.

The registration may be made bilingually in English and Welsh if the person who registers the death gives the information in Welsh and the registrar is able to understand and write Welsh. If the registrar cannot understand and write Welsh, the registration may be carried out in a different district where there are Welsh-speaking registrars, using the declaration procedure described above.