Dying Matters Awareness Week 2024
This year’s theme for Dying Matters Awareness Week is: How we speak about death matters. At Whenn, we believe speaking about the practical side of death in the digital age is a good place to start. Since death is such a deep and complex subject, there are multiple ways to speak about it, many of which you will hear from different voices in May 2024 during this special campaign week.
Talking about death practically matters
Each us of needs a funeral and our accounts closing after our death. This is the practical side of death that Whenn helps with. But just saying “there’s a lot of practical stuff to do when someone dies” to someone new to the topic isn’t enough.
Sarah Giblin, Founder of Whenn, helps families to talk about the practical side of death by using a tool to help them prepare better together. Whenn is an app - and some paper - to help each of us note the companies we use and share them with next of kin. This means, when the time comes they will have a better starting point, so they know where to look to find and close the accounts of the person who has died.
We can’t ask the person who has died where their accounts are held. This is one of the great problems of the modern age. In the old days, we could follow a paper trail to find their accounts after death. However, many of our accounts - for banking, insurance, pensions - are held digitally behind pass codes on laptops and phones. Much of our physical paperwork is out of date in 2024.
Whenn doesn’t share passwords or even account numbers. It just lets you state which companies you use. That is enough for next of kin and executors to find accounts after death using a death certificate, a will and official identity papers proving their legal connection to the person who has died.
The A to Z of Whenn to do practical death prep
Most people believe death prep is an important idea. Yet, it can still be hard to dit down and get it done. Sarah Giblin, Whenn’s founder, has created an A to Z guide about Whenn to do death prep in simple 60 second videos.
Whenn is a tool to help you share the companies you use with next of kin. Why? So they find, and close or transfer, our accounts after death.
By post you'll receive a Whenn pack which includes:
The folder to keep death-related documentse.g. a will, name change deeds, civil partnership/marriage certificate, decree absolute for divorce, prepaid funeral plan
Instructions to download the app to note and share the companies you use with your next of kin
The booklet which acts as a paper backup of the app
Order one Whenn pack per person.
Choose the pack for your location. If the person completing the pack about their life usually lives in the United Kingdom, choose United Kingdom for your location. If the person completing the pack usually lives outside the United Kingdom, choose the other option.