The Death Notification Service (DNS), a service set up by Equiniti to support UK Finance and Financial Services Businesses, has seen a large rise in the number of customers and notifications it received in the period leading up to 1st June 2020.
The service, set up in 2018, allows the representatives of deceased customers, often a family member but also available to professionals, representative bodies and private sector businesses, to report a death of an individual to several major financial institutions at the same time.
The aim of the service is to relieve ‘the stress and burden around repeated notifications and enabling them [the person notifying] to manage these at a time that is convenient.’
Last year saw 15,323 customers use the service to make 44,269 notifications over the whole year. This has increased dramatically in 2020, with 18,644 customers registered by 1 June and 45,861 notifications carried out, with 1 in 6 notifications being made by a professional. .
Stuart Simpson, MD of Equiniti Benefactor commented on recent speculation that interim measures around the issuing of death certificates had caused delays to the receipt of documentation.
Stuart said:
“79% of those notifying the DNS in April were able to provide a death certificate reference number, rising to 85% in May with 75% of notifications being made within 1 month of the date of death.Other interesting facts revealed by the service were that 14% of notifications came from Greater London and when asked whether the deceased had a will, one third of those using the service answered that there was no will or that they did not know if a will existed. .
