Bereavement

• The bereavement help point

  For anyone who has been touched by grief, past or present, directly or indirectly. There will be information on how to cope with all aspects of losing a friend or relative.
  
  Telephone 
  0121 378 6290 or 01543 434536

• Birmingham Sands

  Sands is the leading stillbirth and neonatal death charity in the UK. Sands exists to reduce the number of babies dying and to ensure that anyone affected by the death of a baby receives the best possible care and support for as long as they need it.
  
  Website
  www.bhamforwardsteps.co.uk/sands

• Edward’s Trust

  Edward’s Trust provides holistic family bereavement services supporting children, young people and parents across the West Midlands.
  
  Telephone
  0121 454 1705
  
  Website
  www.edwardstrust.org.uk
  
  Email
  admin@edwardstrust.org.uk

• Cruse bereavement care

  Cruse bereavement care exists to promote the well-being of bereaved people and to enable anyone suffering bereavement caused by death to understand their grief and cope with their loss.
  
  Website
  www.cruse.org.uk

In times of bereavement

In the unfortunate event that a person has passed away, there are three things that must be done in the first few days:

• Get a medical certificate from your GP or hospital doctor (this is necessary to register the death)
• Register the death within 5 days (8 days in Scotland). You will then receive the necessary documents for the funeral
• Make the necessary funeral arrangements

Register the death

If the death has been reported to the coroner (or Procurator Fiscal in Scotland) they must give permission before registering the death.

You can register the death if you are a relative, a witness to the death, a hospital administrator or the person making the arrangements with the funeral directors.

You can use the Register a death page on the gov.uk website that will guide you through the process. This will also explain the registration process for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Arrange the funeral

The funeral can usually only take place after the death is registered. Most people use a funeral director, though you can arrange a funeral yourself.

Funeral directors

Choose a funeral director who’s a member of one of the following:

• National Association of Funeral Directors
• Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors

These organisations have codes of practice. They must give you a price list when asked.

Some British Humanist Association can also help with non-religious funerals.

Arranging the funeral yourself

Contact the Cemeteries and Crematorium Department of your local council to arrange a funeral yourself.

Funeral costs

Funeral costs can include:

• funeral director fees
• things the funeral director pays for on your behalf (called ‘disbursements’ or ‘third-party costs’), for example, crematorium or cemetery fees, or a newspaper announcement about the death
• local authority burial or cremation fees

Funeral directors may list all these costs in their quotes.