Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has not dealt with issuing a death certificate for Mr Y properly, causing avoidable distress. The Council is not at fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council did not properly deal with the issuing of a death certificate for Mr Y because it included personal information about her that was incorrect.
2. Mrs X says she has suffered avoidable distress.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

5. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
6. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

7. I have exercised discretion to investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council has registered information contained on Mr Y’s death certificate, because a significant period of time has elapsed since the events in question and the Council has not objected.
8. I have not investigated Mrs X’s original complaint to the Council about being requested to act as Informant for Mr Y’s death registration, because Mrs X’s complaint to the Ombudsman does not include this, and also the Council properly identified an alternative Informant, there is no indication of fault and Mrs X suffered no injustice.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Law, guidance and policies

11. The Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987 outline the procedures and requirements for registering births and deaths in England and Wales.
12. The process for registering a death is set out in the Death Registration Handbook (the Handbook) which is published by the General Register Office (GRO). Registration services provided by Councils are required to follow the guidance in the Handbook.
13. To register a death the Handbook says:
• An informant is a person who gives information about a death.
• There is an order of preferences which a Council should follow in identifying an appropriate Informant.
• In order that the information given may be as complete and accurate as possible, the registrar should try to get a primary informant to act. When this is impossible or where distress or hardship would be caused by insistence, another qualified person may be accepted, regard being paid to the order of preference.
• All details, except the cause of death, must be obtained by direct personal questioning of the informant.
• Before completing the registration, the Informant is asked to check the details to be entered and to sign to confirm that the particulars given by them are true to the best of their knowledge and belief.
14. The Handbook says: ‘Where the deceased was married or widowed, or a civil partner or surviving civil partner, the registrar must also enter the name and occupation of the spouse or civil partnership as follows:

1. In the case of a married man or widower, the words “Husband (or Widower) of ……” and the name and occupation of his spouse or deceased spouse. “Husband of” should be recorded if the informant is unsure whether the deceased was divorced or widowed’.

What happened?

15. This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
16. Mrs X had been married to Mr Y. They were divorced a substantial time ago.
17. Mr Y passed away in hospital.
18. The Council asked Mrs X to provide information for Mr Y’s death registration.
19. Mrs X complained to the Council that she did not want to act as Informant for the registration of Mr Y’s death. The Council did not uphold Mrs X’s complaint.
20. A representative of the hospital where Mr Y died acted as Informant.
21. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman that Mr Y’s death certificate contained inaccurate information. The Council advised Mrs X how she could apply to correct any inaccurate information.

Analysis

22. In its detailed response to my enquiries, the Council has stated that:
• “The Informant in this instance was the representative of the hospital, not Mrs X. The Registrar was therefore obliged to use information provided by the hospital when completing the death registration. The hospital’s representative was provided with the Register Page to check and signed it to confirm its accuracy.”
• “There was no discrepancy between the details provided on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death and the information provided by the hospital’s representative.”
• “the Registrar would have been obliged to enter the address information (for both Mr Y and Mrs X); the place of birth for Mr Y; and the name of Mr Y as provided to them by the Informant.”
• “The Registrar followed the correct process by relying upon the verbal information provided by the Informant, a representative of the hospital.”
• “The Registrar had no alternative other than to accept the information from the Informant as there was no discrepancy between the information provided and the information in the Medical Cause of Death Certificate.”
• “The fact that the Council may have had different information from a third party in its other records is not something which the Registrar would have been able to consider.”
• “The Informant provided information verbally that Mr Y had been married but did not advise that he had either been divorced or widowed. “
• “Because the informant did not inform the Registrar that the deceased had been divorced or widowed, Mrs X was recorded in the register, and consequently on the death certificate, as his wife. In these circumstances, the Registrar entered the correct wording.”
• “Had Mrs X taken the opportunity to act as Informant, information provided by her would have been entered onto the death certificate for Mr Y. This would have included the name, addresses and marital status as she had reported it.”
• “However, Mrs X declined to act as Informant and a representative of the hospital became the Informant. This meant that the information provided by the hospital’s representative correctly took precedence over anything previously put forward by Mrs X.“
• “There is no provision within the death registration process for information other than that provided by the Informant to be entered onto the record, and consequently the death certificate.”
23. The Council therefore says:
• It has correctly followed the procedures for the registration of a death.
• Mrs X was correctly identified as a person required to act as Informant of Mr Y’s death. This was not by virtue of her marital status but because she was a personal representative of the deceased under the terms of his Will.
• When Mrs X declined to act as Informant, an alternative Informant was found in the form of the ‘Occupier’ from the hospital. The Registration service took the correct action in insisting the hospital fulfil this statutory duty.
• The death was registered using information provided by the hospital. The Council is not responsible for the accuracy of the information held or provided by the hospital. The registration and consequent death certificate were in accordance with legislation and the instructions issued by the GRO.
• Mrs X was appropriately advised throughout, including how to apply for correction to the Register.
24. I have reviewed the relevant section of the Handbook.
25. I have seen a copy of the signed particulars of registration, which shows the information provided by the Informant, (the representative of the hospital where Mr Y died), certified that the information given was correct.
26. There is no written record of the information provided to the Council by the Informant. This is in accordance with the Handbook. On the balance of probabilities, the Council accurately recorded verbal information provided by the hospital.
27. Mrs X says there is no way the Informant could have known her details and therefore the Council must have provided that information to them.
28. I have seen email correspondence from the Council which shows Mrs X was given information about how to apply for a correction of inaccurate information recorded in Mr Y’s death certificate.
29. The process for applying for a correction to a death certificate does not permit a new death certificate to be issued, it only allows for an annotated correction to the existing one. The outcome which Mrs X seeks is not achievable by the Council.
30. On the balance of probabilities, the Council has followed the correct process in registering Mr Y’s death. This is not fault.

Back to top

Decision

31. I find no fault.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman