When someone dies in England or Wales the death needs to be registered within 5 working days at the Registry Office for the County in which the death occurred. You can go to a different office if it is more convenient, but the process – known as registration by declaration – will take a day or two longer. This is because the registrar will need to forward your information to the original district, where the registrar will issue and send out the death certificate and other paperwork. Doing things this way may mean a slight delay to the funeral, since it is not possible for a burial or cremation to take place until after the registrar has issued the necessary paperwork. If the person has died in the hospital we will usually need registrar’s paperwork to allow us to bring your loved one back into our care.