All contact by funeral directors should be made by email. Please check with your head office prior to contacting the office for updates, as documentation is often already with them.

Requests for expedited process due to cultural or religious reasons

HM Coroner’s Service understands that due to some cultural or religious reasons you may ask for us to expedite our processes to allow you to bury your loved one as quickly as possible. It is very important that once we have confirmed that the referral has been received that you do not continually contact the office for an update as this is likely to create more delay. Your allocated officer shall appreciate your wishes and expedite the process as much as possible.

Please note: A case does not need to be referred to the coroner simply because the family have requested the expedited release of the body for cultural and religious reasons outside of normal working hours.

The hospital or GP will be able to request referrals are reviewed outside of normal working hours and have the relevant contact details to allow them to do this.

Out of England requests

Out of England requests are only able to be considered during office hours as the office does not have staff available to assist with paperwork outside these working hours.

All these enquiries must come from funeral directors, including sending all the relevant paperwork (including form 104) to our office directly, where we shall always expedite and prioritise the paperwork request once the office is open.

The Coroner should not be contacted by funeral directors or family members in relation to out of England requests either during office hours or out of hours.

Out of Hours Referrals

Death referrals out of hours should be submitted in the usual way. Where there is a request for a funeral to be arranged quickly for religious or cultural purposes there is a Registrar available at weekends and most bank holidays (except 25th December, 1st January and Easter Sunday) between 10am and 12 noon. Please see the Registration Service website for details.
Please note it is not possible to deal with, Out of England,  requests out of hours due to the complexities of the legal process.

Into England requests

When a death occurs abroad and the deceased is being repatriated to England for a funeral within our area (this does not include ashes being brought back) the death must be reported to the Coroner by the Funeral Director

Funeral Directors should only contact the Coroner’s Service once the deceased lies within the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire jurisdiction, you do not need to notify the service prior to this as we have no jurisdiction until this time.

The Funeral Director should send all the below documentation and information to coroners office.

• Confirm full details of the deceased
• Death certificate – registered in the country where the person died.
• Next of kin name and contact number
• Confirmation of type of funeral and where this will take place
• If deceased was a UK resident, GP details if known
• Translation of cause of death given if possible and if known if this is a natural or unnatural death.
• Confirmation of identification in Nottinghamshire (or when this is booked to take place – we will not be able to issue any paperwork until identification has been confirmed by email from funeral director)