About Us
Overview
Privacy Statement
The General Register Office is an integral part of the Identity and Passport Service. Protecting your privacy is very important to both the Identity and Passport Service and the General Register Office. The statement below outlines our privacy policy - but please note, it applies only to the General Register Office website, and not to other companies' or organisations' websites to which we may link, including our payment service provider Worldpay.
The Data Protection Act and personal data
Under the Data Protection Act, anyone processing personal data must protect the information collected. 'Personal data' is any data that identifies you, and we will deal with your personal data in compliance with the current UK data protection legislation.
What information do we collect from you and why?
Our web pages use cookies (small files stored on your computer's hard disk, identifying your computer but not you personally), 'web bugs' and Javascript tracking code to gather anonymous information about visitors' usage patterns. We do this in order to improve the navigation of the site, the presentation of its content, and the quality of its services. The information collected does not include personal details such as your name, age, phone number, postal address or email address, nor does it allow personal identification of a user.
If you are placing an online order for a certificate, we require both an e-mail address and a delivery address to complete the registration process. Your e-mail address also acts as your username but the provision of any other information, eg telephone numbers, is entirely optional. We use this information to contact you about your order: either to inform you that it has been received and is being processed, or that there is a problem. You may be contacted by e-mail, post, or by telephone, if you have provided a contact number.
Your e-mail and delivery address will be passed to Worldpay, only to process your order. Worldpay act as the Payment Service Provider for the General Register Office, and are responsible for all credit card processing over a secure line. A copy of their privacy statement can be viewed on Worldpay's website.
Cookies are also used to help speed up the online ordering process, so that you do not need to re-type the same information again and again, and to keep track of the order from one page to the next. We do not store your password or any other information in these cookies, or use them for any other purpose.
Certain exceptional disclosures
We may disclose your personal data acting in good faith only if we believe such action is necessary to conform with a legal requirement, or if we consider that a certificate application is being made fraudulently.
How do we protect information we collect?
We follow technical and management practices we believe are reasonable under the circumstances to protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of information stored on our system.
How long do we keep user information?
We generally keep personal data on our server or in our archives for as long as we reasonably need it. We may alter this practice according to changing requirements. We may keep other data for longer periods if the law requires it.
Amending your registration information
You can change your registration information, e-mail address and password at any time. To do this, you should re-register with your new address and password on the home page.
External links
The General Register Office is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of web sites linked from our pages.
Your consent to this policy
By registering with our site, you agree to this Policy. This is our entire and exclusive Privacy Policy and it supersedes any earlier version. We may change it by posting a new version on our site.
If you have any questions about this statement or the practices of this site, please email certificate.services@ons.gov.uk
