Coronavirus Act 2020

Giving information other than in person and dispensing with signing the register

3 (1) A qualified informant who is required under the 1953 Act to give information about a death or still-birth to the registrar may give the information to the registrar—

(a) by telephone, or

(b) by any other methods specified in guidance issued by the Registrar General,

if the informant is unable to attend before the registrar in person.

(2) The duty of a qualified informant to sign the register in the presence of the registrar does not apply where information is provided in reliance on sub-paragraph (1).

(3) An entry in a register of deaths or a register of still-births for which, by virtue of sub-paragraph (2), no signature is required is to be treated as an entry signed by a qualified informant for the purposes of the 1953 Act.

(4) A person is to be treated as unable to give information for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) if it would be impractical for the person to do so (whether because of illness, the need to care for others, the risk of infection, staff shortages at the registrar’s office or any other reason).