Bereaved facing chaos as IT glitch riddles death certificates with errors
BEREAVED families are facing grief-stricken chaos after a catastrophic IT blunder left death certificates riddled with errors.
The glitch, which duplicated doctor names, rendered the certificates legally invalid, blocking access to estates, pensions and vital accounts.
Officials don’t know how many faulty certificates are still out there but the Government claims the "technical issue" was patched up on Wednesday.
One devastated family member, whose late grandmother's death certificate was tied up in bureaucratic knots, told The Sun: “The council’s registrar office worked tirelessly to ensure our certificate was issued swiftly, only for the council and us to be railroaded with a ‘computer bug’ holding the whole process up.”
The heartbroken relative revealed it was only after they returned to the registrar office to correct a “manual mistake” that the error was even discovered.
He went on: “The council was simply unable to rectify it as the whole computer system has a bug and while they are caught between a rock and a hard place I am left holding a family together saying this simply has to be done correctly or we can’t get on with life.”
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He also warned there could be countless other families affected who may not even realise their certificates are invalid, leaving estates in legal limbo.
The glitch, which duplicated the same doctor’s name in both the "established" and "scrutinised" fields, stems from an automated system error.
By law, these roles require verification by two separate medical professionals to ensure accuracy – but the system error wiped out that safeguard.
Several councils confirmed they were informed of the nationwide issue, which had been going on for just over a week, and that it was something “they had no control over”.
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Kieran Bowe, private client partner at Russell Cooke, blasted the situation: “If bereaved family members are not able to register a death of a loved one, the estate is put on a pause, executors may have difficulty accessing funds to pay for funerals causing upset at an already difficult and emotional time.”
He also warned a delay in the issue of death certificates may “prevent executors being able to preserve assets in the estate, as they will not be able to formally register the death, the banks, financial institutions and utility providers”.
A Conservative spokesperson demanded that the Home Secretary “tell us how many families were affected and set out a way to fix it to ensure this error is never made again.”
They added: “This will no doubt have had an impact on families coping with loss.”
It is understood the Home Office believed councils would have contacted families whose certificates were affected, but questions remain over whether every impacted family has been informed.
The Government yesterday insisted the fix is now in place, with a spokesperson stating: “We are aware of this technical issue, which is being permanently rectified today.
“While this is implemented councils are still able to issue correct certificates using a temporary workaround.”