BEREAVEMENT GUIDE
Stopping Post, Calls and Data After Someone Dies
Updated August 2026 · 9 min read · By Silent Erase | ICO Registered C1971457
If you are reading this because someone close to you has died, we are sorry. This guide is written to be practical rather than sympathetic, because that is usually what is most useful at this point. Take what is helpful and leave the rest — none of it has to be done today.
Marketing post addressed to someone who has died is one of the more painful parts of bereavement. It arrives for months, sometimes years. Cold calls ask to speak to them. And in the worst cases, criminals use the details of the deceased to commit fraud.
All of it can be stopped. Here is how.
Start with the free official services
Three services do most of the heavy lifting, and all are free.
1. Tell Us Once
A government service that notifies most public bodies in one go — HMRC, DWP, DVLA, Passport Office, the local council, and public sector pension schemes. The registrar will usually offer this when you register the death and give you a unique reference number. If you were not offered it, ask — it is available in most of England, Scotland and Wales. It saves an enormous amount of repetitive phoning.
2. The Bereavement Register
Free at thebereavementregister.org.uk. This is the main service for stopping direct marketing post. Registration is free and typically reduces unsolicited mail within around six to twelve weeks, as marketing lists are refreshed on a cycle. Register once and it applies broadly across the industry.
3. Deceased Preference Service
Free at deceasedpreferenceservice.co.uk. Works alongside the Bereavement Register and catches some organisations the other misses. Registering with both is worthwhile — they do not fully overlap.
Do these three first. Between them they stop the majority of post and calls without you having to contact companies individually. Everything below is for what remains.
Stopping the phone calls
1
Register the number with the TPS
Free at tpsonline.org.uk. Makes it unlawful for UK companies to make unsolicited marketing calls to that number. Takes around 28 days to take full effect.
2
Tell callers plainly and ask for removal
If a company calls asking for the person, you do not owe them an explanation or a conversation. "This person has died. Please remove this number from your records." is enough. Ask them to confirm in writing if you want a record.
3
Consider whether to keep or cease the line
If the number is being ceased, that resolves it. If a family member is taking it over, register it with the TPS in the new name once transferred.
Removing them from data broker sites
This is the part most people do not realise is possible, and it is the part that matters most for preventing fraud.
People-search sites will continue to list the deceased person's name, last known address, age and relatives indefinitely. That listing is a resource for criminals — and it also links to you, as a named relative.
An important legal point: UK GDPR applies to living individuals. It does not, strictly speaking, give you a right to erasure on behalf of someone who has died. That does not mean you cannot get the listing removed — but it means you are usually asking rather than demanding, and the approach matters.
What actually works
Most reputable people-search sites operate a deceased-record removal process voluntarily, because listing the dead is reputationally poor and generates complaints. In practice, a polite request with a death certificate usually succeeds where a legal demand would not.
There is also a genuine legal angle available to you: these listings almost always name surviving relatives — which is your personal data, and you absolutely do have rights over that. Requesting removal of your own name from a family listing is an Article 17 request in your own right.
Template request
[Your name]
[Your address]
[Your email]
[Date]
The Data Protection Officer
[Website name]
Dear Sir or Madam,
Re: Request to remove records relating to a deceased person, and erasure of my own personal data
I am writing regarding a listing on your website relating to my [relationship, e.g. mother], [full name of deceased], who died on [date].
Listing URL: [paste the URL if you have it]
I request that you remove this record from your website and from any onward data feeds.
I am able to provide a copy of the death certificate on request to verify this.
Separately, and in my own right: this listing identifies me by name as an associated relative. That is my personal data. Under Article 17 of the UK GDPR I request the erasure of my personal data from this listing and from your systems, and I object to its further processing under Article 21.
Please confirm in writing once both matters have been actioned.
I would ask you to treat this request with appropriate sensitivity given the circumstances.
Yours faithfully,
[Your name]
Why this wording works: it makes the deceased-record removal easy for them to agree to, while attaching a legally enforceable request about your own data to the same message. Most organisations will action both together rather than separate them.
Protecting against identity fraud
This is difficult to think about while grieving, but worth doing. Fraud using the details of deceased people is a recognised and persistent problem — criminals target the dead precisely because nobody is checking their credit file.
2
Notify the credit reference agencies
Contact Experian, Equifax and TransUnion to have the file marked as deceased. Each has a dedicated bereavement process. This is the single most effective step against identity fraud.
2
Consider CIFAS Protective Registration for the deceased
CIFAS operates a protective registration that can be applied to a deceased person's identity, flagging applications made in their name for extra checking. Details at cifas.org.uk.
3
Close or memorialise online accounts
Facebook offers memorialisation or deletion. Most major platforms have a bereavement process requiring a death certificate. Dormant accounts with old personal information are a risk — and unmonitored email accounts especially so.
4
Be careful what goes in the obituary
Published obituaries are actively harvested. Date of birth, mother's maiden name, home address and the names of surviving relatives are all common security question answers. Consider omitting full dates of birth and addresses. Announcing funeral times publicly also signals when a house will be empty — genuinely a factor in burglaries.
The electoral register
Notify the local council's electoral registration office. Tell Us Once often covers this, but it is worth confirming directly — a deceased person remaining on the open register means their name and address continue to be sold commercially to anyone who buys it.
The same applies to your own household: if you have not opted out of the open register yourself, this is a reasonable moment to do it. How to opt out →
A realistic timeline
Weeks 1–2
Tell Us Once, Bereavement Register, Deceased Preference Service, credit reference agencies.
Weeks 3–6
TPS registration, electoral register, online accounts, individual companies still writing.
Months 2–4
Data broker removal requests. Post should have reduced substantially by now — if it has not, chase.
Ongoing
Some post reappears as old lists are recycled. Re-registering with the Bereavement Register after a year is not unusual and is not a sign you did anything wrong.
If a letter arrives after you thought it had stopped — that is normal, and it does not mean the process failed. Marketing lists are bought and resold on long cycles, and a company that acquired an old list may not have had the update. A short reply asking for removal usually ends it.
Where to get help
Cruse Bereavement Support
0808 808 1677 — free bereavement support, cruse.org.uk
Citizens Advice
0800 144 8848 — practical help with the administrative side
Age UK Advice Line
0800 678 1602 — particularly helpful for older bereaved people
Action Fraud
0300 123 2040 — if you suspect their identity has been used fraudulently
One last thing
You do not have to do all of this, and you certainly do not have to do it quickly. The three free registrations at the top of this page handle most of it. Everything else can wait until you have the energy.
If a particular letter or call is upsetting, it is entirely reasonable to ask someone else — a friend, another family member — to handle that company on your behalf. Most organisations will accept a call from a relative dealing with an estate.
Protecting your own data too
Data broker listings name surviving relatives — which means your details are in those records as well. Our free tools show what is exposed.