Closely tied to previous pieces on the census and national statistics is civil registration – registration of births, marriages and deaths (and some other things too).
In official terms, it effectively marks the start of, any changes to and end of a person’s citizenship.
Civil registration is the formal state record of major life events that have happened amongst the population living in a given area.
Civil registration services are non-devolved to Wales – along with marriage and gender recognition1.
However, these powers are devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland – overseen by National Records Scotland and the General Register Office of Northern Ireland respectively.
In EnglandandWales, civil registration services are overseen by the General Register Office (GRO) – headquartered in Southport, Lancashire – which is a sub-department of the Passport Service.
In the community, civil registration services in Wales are provided by the 22 unitary authorities, usually via a co-located register office managed by a Senior Registrar.
What has to be registered by law?
People are legally required to register the following with the registry office in the district/local authority the event occurred:
- A birth or stillbirth – within 42 days of the birth or stillbirth.
- Notice of a marriage or civil partnership if it’s not a common licence ceremony (i.e. Church service), within 12 months of the ceremony taking place.
- Civil partnership and marriage – usually on the day of the ceremony itself, though this usually only applies to register office ceremonies.
- A death – usually within 5 days, though this can take longer if the death happened abroad or has been referred to a coroner (see also: A Welsh Justice System XI: A Welsh Judiciary).
Registrars collect specific details in each case, usually at a pre-booked appointment in person.
The “Tell Us Once” service often means these details are shared between different government departments. This avoids the same information having to be given multiple times – which may be frustrating or emotionally difficult in the case of deaths, for example.
Failing to register a birth or death is a minor criminal offence and the responsible person(s) is liable to a fine.
What information doesn’t have to be legally registered?
There are non-statutory registry services (which are optional), including:
- Gender recognition certificates – Allows someone whose gender identity is different from their birth sex to update official documents (i.e. driving licences, marriage certificates) to take this into account.
- Adoption records – restricted to over-18s.
- Deed poll – Changing your legal name and granting permission to update official documents.
- The electoral register – Required to vote. This is usually overseen by local authorities rather than register offices. It’s not a legal requirement to be on the electoral register, although not doing so may present obstacles in certain situations.
How much do civil registration services cost?
As far as I can tell, fees for civil registration services are set by the General Register Office.
According to the latest UK Home Office annual report2, “certificate services” in EnglandandWales cost £39.3million to deliver and generated £22.9million in revenue from fees, meaning the service operated with a deficit of just over £14.6million.
A pro-rata figure for Wales – which isn’t available – would be around £2million in costs and £1.2million in revenues. This figure will naturally fluctuate based on birth, marriage and death rates.
1. Government of Wales Act 2006, Schedule 7A, Part 1, Section L12-L14
2. UK Home Office, Annual Report 2021-22 (p137). Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1090460/Home_Office_ARA_21-22_Final_-_Gov.uk.pdf
