Births, marriages, deaths and nationality Register a death

Urgent burials - guidance for medical and/or bereavement staff

Uploading the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD): 

GPs, surgeries or doctors should not send the MCCD to the register office, this must be carried out by the Medical Examiner or somebody appointed by them to carry out this task.  

The MCCD should be uploaded to the portal in the usual way, including the words ‘FAITH DEATH’ after the informant’s telephone number. You must also email registeroffice@manchester.gov.uk to alert us to the fact that you have uploaded a MCCD which relates to a faith death. A ‘faith death’ is where the burial needs to take place within 24 hours of death for religious reasons.   

Please check the MCCD is correct, with no errors or omissions that may render the certificate unusable. 

The paper MCCD must not be given to the family or posted to the Register Office. It should be scanned and uploaded to the portal and then disposed of in accordance with your local policy on document retention. 

Advice for families: 

Please help us to manage the expectations of families in terms of what may be possible. For instance, a MCCD uploaded at 3pm during the week may not be picked up until the following day, and so the family may not receive a call the same day. Likewise, a MCCD uploaded in the afternoon on a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday may not be picked up until the next working day.   

Families should not be advised to come to the Register Office to collect the burial authority in person. They should email registeroffice@manchester.gov.uk