Funeral Industry News

Booking Registrar Appointments to Register a Death

November 1, 2022 by funeral-industry-news No Comments | Category Uncategorized

A number of registrars have noticed an increase in some funeral directors sending copies of medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD) to more than one registrar’s office at the same time and booking a number of appointments to register the same death. Presumably this is done to give families options and find the earliest date available.

Sometimes the unwanted bookings are not being cancelled once a family has selected one of the slots. This has led to less availability for others to register a death (or birth/marriage).  The practice can also lead to a registrar from one area contacting the family to register a death when the death has already been registered at another office, which can be upsetting for the bereaved.

Funeral directors are requested to send the MCCD only in exceptional circumstances, such as where the deceased has had a post mortem and the funeral director picks up a signed MCCD at the same time as collecting the deceased. Other than that the signed paper MCCD or eMCCD should be sent to the registrar directly from the hospital or GP. More information on registering deaths is available in the NRS guidance.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us at BurialandCremation@gov.scot

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