Birth and Bereavement Service

Monday 14th November 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

I am pleased to announce that the cross-Government “tell us once” service has begun to roll out nationally.

“Tell us once” provides a valuable service to citizens when having to report a birth or a death to central and local government. “Tell us once” enables citizens to inform Government of the event “just once” and have this information shared across the relevant Government services. This not only brings savings to the taxpayer but reduces the burden on citizens when the demands on their time are greatest.

A total of 96% of local authorities have committed to deliver the service and to date 134 local authorities are now offering the service to citizens with the remainder due to go live in this financial year. This level of voluntary take up is a testament to the excellent working relationships between central and local government and a mark of the value seen in this initiative.

The Department for Work and Pensions were considering using the same principles to develop a change of address service and had intended to pilot this in the summer of 2011. Given the immediate priorities of welfare reform that the Department must deliver, the decision has been taken not to pursue this work at the current time.