When you have a new baby, there are lots of things that need to be done. One of these things is contacting the government departments and local council services that need to be told about the birth. Until now, you had to contact all of them individually.

North Yorkshire County Council is providing a service which can help you give the information to the Department for Work and Pensions. If you want they can then pass this information on to a number of other organisations.

How the service can help you

You often have to contact several government departments and parts of the local council to give them the same information about the birth. It's important that you do this as soon as possible as it may affect your entitlements, such as Child Benefit, Working Tax Credits or Child Tax Credits.

We want to make this easier for you, so if you want to use the service after registering the birth we will ask you some simple questions. This means that you won't have to send a copy of the birth certificate in the post as we will contact the organisations that need to know on your behalf.

The following organisations and services can be contacted if you ask us to:

• Department for Work and Pensions
  • Jobcentre Plus
• Housing Benefit office
• Council Tax benefit office
• Library services
• Children's services (family information services)
• HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
  • Child Benefit
  • Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit

Using this service can, where certain conditions are met, help to speed up an application for Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit with HM Revenue & Customs if you are receiving benefits that relate to your income (for example Income Support, or some types of Jobseekers Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance).

When you make an appointment to register the birth, the registrar will explain about Tell Us Once so that you can use the service immediately after the registration of your baby.

Information you will need to use this service

You can use this service immediately after you have registered your baby. To make sure the right information is given to any organisations we contact for you and so that you get the most out of the service, it will help the registrar if you can bring along with you the following information:

• For the person/s which are being named on the birth register, their National Insurance number/s and/or date of birth, address and telephone number;
• Details of any benefits the person/s named on the birth register are receiving/have applied for; and
• The partner of the person named on the birth register, (if they live in the same household) including their National Insurance number and/or date of birth and information about any benefits they may be receiving.

You will need to get the permission from these people to tell us about them before you use the service.

If you wish to claim Child Benefit, please bring along a completed Child Benefit form and we can stamp and date it for you and send it on to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Visit the Birth - registering page for information about booking an appointment to register a birth.

Useful downloads Birth - tell us once leaflet [44kb] [pdf] Printable leaflet about the tell us once service for births. Privacy policy - tell us once [95kb] [pdf] This leaflet from the Department for Work and Pensions provides a summary of the tell us once privacy policy and includes a privacy statement and details of how your information is collected and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act.   Related Pages Birth - registering Death - tell us once Weblinks Please note: All external websites open in a new browser window and NYCC is not responsible for the content of external websites. Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions is the Government department responsible for welfare, pension and employment issues. Contacts Harrogate register office registrars.harrogate@northyork... Tel: 0845 034 9480 (for appointments), 0845 034 9482 (for copy certificates) Fax: 01423 502105 Full details for Harrogate register office Malton registration office registrars.malton@northyorks.g... Tel: 0845 034 9483 Fax: 01653 696135 Full details for Malton registration office Northallerton registration office registrars.northallerton@north... Tel: 01609 532601 or 2602 Fax: 01609 532096 Full details for Northallerton registration office Richmond registration office registrars.richmond@northyorks... Tel: 0845 034 9485 Fax: 01748 824522 Full details for Richmond registration office Scarborough registration office registrars.scarborough@northyo... Tel: 0845 034 9486 Fax: 01723 350436 Full details for Scarborough registration office Selby registration office registrars.selby@northyorks.go... Tel: 0845 034 9487 Fax: 01757 705133 Full details for Selby registration office Settle registration office Please note that as of Tuesday 11 September 2012, the registration office at Castle Hill in Settle is closed. See below for details. Full details for Settle registration office Skipton registration office registrars.skipton@northyorks.... Tel: 0845 034 9488 Fax: 01756 709034 Full details for Skipton registration office Whitby registration office registrars.whitby@northyorks.g... Tel: 0845 034 9489 Fax: 01947 602731 Full details for Whitby registration office