Your local register offices are
You must register the birth of a baby within 42 days of them being born. You will need to contact the register office to make an appointment, which will usually last 20-30 minutes.
Visit Northamptonshire County Council website for information on adoption, birth certificates, registering and re-registering a birth, and registering a stillbirth.
By law a death must be registered within five days unless the registrar says that this period may be extended or if the coroner is involved.
To register a death, contact your local register office.
Visit Northamptonshire County Council's website for information on getting a copy of a death certificate, the coroner service, and registering a death or stillbirth.
If you are finding it difficult to to pay for a funeral, there are several ways you may be able to get help.
If you or your partner claim income support, housing or Council Tax benefit, job seeker's allowance, disabled person's tax credit or working family tax credit, you may be able to get a Social Fund funeral payment from the Benefits Agency.
The Social Fund funeral payment covers the cost of a burial or cremation fees, local authority fees, certain expenses in specific circumstances and up to £700 to pay for other costs such as a coffin or flowers.
To make a claim for as Social Fund funeral payment you need to fill in a form which you can get from your local job centre or you can download it from Job Centre Plus website
You will not have to pay tax on any funeral payment you get.
If the person who died was a war veteran, you may also be able to get help from the Veterans Agency. You don't have to be on benefits to claim but if you are also claiming a Social Fund funeral payment it may affect how much you get from the Veterans Agency.
Contact them on telephone: 0800 169 2277 or visit Veterans UK website for more information.
If someone dies in South Northamptonshire and there is no-one to take care of the funeral arrangements, we have a duty to arrange the funeral. We can reclaim any funeral expenses from the estate of the deceased person or from someone who was responsible for them before they died. This may mean we can reclaim costs from the deceased person's wife, husband or parents.
For more information on municipal funerals email pshousing@southnorthants.gov.uk.
You should think very carefully and speak to our environment team for advice if you are thinking about burying a loved one at home.
Contact us on
Telephone: 01327 322290
Email: pshousing@southnorthants.gov.uk
If you want to repatriate a body from abroad back to England or Wales you will need a death certificate which has been issued by the foreign registration authority. You will need to take this certificate to the registrar for the district where you want to bury or cremate the body. The registrar will issue you with a 'certificate of no liability to register'. This document will need to go to the funeral director before the funeral can go ahead.
If you want to repartriate a body from this country to a abroad, you may need a certificate to confirm that there is no epidemic of an infectious disease in the area. These formalities are usually handled by the undertaker, along with any other requirements from the foreign authorities.
For more information or advice, email pshousing@southnorthants.gov.uk.