Marketing sent to someone who has died.

1. Addressed marketing post

The Mailing Preference Service, or MPS, is a free way to reduce unsolicited direct mail. It covers UK residential addresses only. Its registration form has an option for registering the details of someone who has passed away.

1. Open the MPS registration form

   Choose the Mailing Preference Service and select Next.

2. Choose the type of registration

   Select “I wish to register the details of someone who has passed away”, then follow the form. The wording may change, so go by what the form shows on the day.

MPS also takes registrations by phone on 020 7291 3310 and by post at Mailing Preference Service, Rapier House, 40 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London, WC1N 3LJ. If you write, MPS asks you to give the address you want to register and to say, for each address, whether the advertising you want to stop is addressed to someone who is deceased.

MPS says a name and address are added to the register immediately, but it can take 2-3 months for the service to have full effect.

MPS lists these limits itself:

• It won’t block overseas mail, unaddressed items, or mail addressed to “The Occupier” or “The Homeowner”.
• Mailings may still come from companies with an existing relationship. MPS says to notify those companies directly.

For leaflets and other unaddressed post, see the post guide.

2. Charity appeals

The Fundraising Preference Service, or FPS, is a free service run by the Fundraising Regulator. Its website opens by asking who you are using it for, and one of the three choices is “Someone who has died”.

The FPS says that when you make a request on behalf of someone else, you will be asked for:

• Their full name, address and the methods of communication to stop, such as an email address or phone number.
• Your own name and contact details, and your relationship to them. The FPS uses your contact details to send you a reference code.

When the request is for someone who has died, the FPS says it will not send a confirmation letter to that person.

The FPS works only on the charities you name, up to 10 in any one visit to the website. It applies to charities registered in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and it can stop fundraising asks sent by addressed letters, emails, phone calls and text messages. It does not stop commercial companies. The FPS says it may take up to 21 days for a charity to stop making contact.

If you are unable to complete the request on the website, the FPS helpline is 0300 3033 517. The full steps, and what to do if appeals carry on, are in the charity appeals guide.

3. Tell Us Once is for government records

GOV.UK describes Tell Us Once as a service that lets you report a death to most government organisations in one go. A registrar explains it when you register the death. GOV.UK says you can use it if the person who died was living in England, Scotland or Wales, and that you cannot use it if the person was living in Northern Ireland when they died.

The organisations GOV.UK says Tell Us Once will notify are HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Passport Office, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the local council, Veterans UK and Social Security Scotland, along with some public sector pension schemes. No company or charity is on that list. GOV.UK says you will still need to contact organisations like banks, mortgage providers, insurance providers and companies the person had contracts with to close or change the details of their financial accounts.

Treat Tell Us Once as a separate job from the two services above.

4. Tell the sender

Both services point back to the sender for some mail. MPS says that if you wish to stop mail from specific businesses, you will need to contact them directly. The FPS says to speak directly to a charity about contact that is not about fundraising, such as a membership or a magazine subscription.

Related guides

• A lighter letterbox. Reduce addressed marketing, unaddressed leaflets and the data that puts your home on mailing lists.
• Tell a charity to stop asking. Ask a named charity to stop its fundraising post, calls, emails and texts, for yourself or for someone you look after.