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General Register OfficeOfficial information on births, adoptions, marriages,civil partnerships and deaths in England and Wales |
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Frequently Asked Questions1. About usThe General Register Office (GRO) is based in Southport, Merseyside and holds records for all births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships that have been registered in England and Wales from 1837. 2. Records availableBefore you contact GRO for assistance, please refer to the 'How to Order' videos here: General Register Office - 'How to Order' Guide for Customers Swyddfa Gofrestru Gyffredinol - Canllaw 'Sut i Archebu' ar gyfer Cwsmeriaid Ordering via our online serviceThe following can be ordered through our GRO online ordering service -
The GRO online indexes should be used to try and identify the index reference for: Birth records from 1837 to 1934, and 1984 up to two years ago. Death records from 1837 to 1957, and 1984 up to two years ago in England and Wales. Alternative index sources include https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ and the host sites. You will be prompted to supply further details for more recent births and deaths (within the last 50 years) and marriages and civil partnerships (within the last 35 years) when you complete the online application form. If you are unable to complete the mandatory fields, you will not be able to apply online and you will need to follow our telephone ordering process which incurs an additional fee of £4.50 Please contact us on +44(0) 300 123 1837 for further information. Ordering offline (by telephone or post) onlyThe following certificates are not available to order online and are not subject to the telephone or postal certificate application fee noted above.
If you require a copy of a short birth or short death certificate, or if you require a certificate from the Abandoned Children's Register or the Parental Order Register please contact us on +44(0) 300 123 1837 for further information. For certificates from the Gender Recognition Register, once the registration has been made, you will have been given a direct line to telephone the team or you can use the above number and be redirected. Records we are not able to provideGRO is not able to issue certificates for birth or death registrations that have taken place within the last six months and you may wish to obtain a certificate from the register office or church where the event was registered. This information excludes adoption certificates, as the local register office does not hold a copy of the Adopted Children Register. If you require further information, please contact us on +44(0) 300 123 1837 and talk to our Customer Service Team. 3. Price list for our servicesPriority Service Your certificate(s) will be despatched on the next working day from receipt of your application, if we receive it before 4pm. We will send your certificate(s) to you using 1st class postage. You also have the option to select Royal Mail Next Day Delivery, Royal Mail Saturday 9am or DHL Overseas Delivery.
Standard Service Your certificate(s) will be despatched on the fourth working day from receipt of your application (if a GRO index reference has been supplied), or the fifteenth working day (if a GRO index reference has not been supplied). We will send your certificate(s) to you using 2nd class postage. PDF(s) will be available to view in your online account within four working days from the date of the order if we receive it before 4pm. You will be notified by email when the PDF is available. Online View digital images will be available to view in your online account once the order has been completed.
4. Our refund policyPlease note that we will retain a fee of £4.00 (for certificate orders) to cover administration costs incurred if we are unable to find a record of the event you have requested. Any additional administration fees which you may have paid (if not applying using our online service or including a GRO index reference) are also non-refundable. 5. What to do if you have not received your certificatePlease allow at least 5 working days (working days exclude Saturday/Sunday/Bank Holidays) from the estimated date of despatch for delivery before you contact us or a minimum of 15 working days if you live overseas. We will not be able to take action if you contact us before these timescales. If you still haven't received your certificate after this time, please use our online form to send us a message. When you submit this form it will generate an email to us with the details you have supplied. We will respond to your email within 5 working days. Please note that you should report the non-receipt of a certificate within three months of the date the order was placed. 6. What to do if you have not received your PDF?Please allow 5 working days from the estimated date of order before you contact us. We will not be able to take action if you contact us before these timescales. If you still haven't received your PDF after this time, please use our online form to send us a message. When you submit this form, it will generate an email to us with the details you have supplied. We will respond to your email within 5 working days. 7. What to do if you have not received your Online View digital image?Please contact us via our online form 8. Using our online serviceThe quickest, easiest and cheapest way to order a certificate is to go online using the GRO's secure online ordering service. The following document provides information on how to set up an account so that you will be able to start ordering from us online.
The following document covers troubleshooting topics when making online applications. Please refer to this guide before contacting the office should you experience an issue when setting up an account or making an order online.
9. Understanding the GRO index reference numberThe following document provides information on the GRO index reference number and where you can find it. This will help you when making an application and if you wish to carry out your family history research.
10. The GRO online indexesA number of GRO birth and death indexes are freely available to search online. These cover birth records from 1837 to 1934, and 1984 up to two years ago. Death records from 1837 to 1957, and 1984 up to two years ago. The following documents provide an overview and guide to using these indexes. GRO is currently working on a rolling programme to put all of its indexes online. We will notify you via our website when new indexes are added.
11. Certificate typesThe following documents provide guidance on what you will see on a certificate, what records are available and how to order them
12. Other services we providePortable Document Format (PDF) is a file format used to present and exchange documents reliably and in a manner that is independent of user's software, hardware, or operating system. PDF's are available for historical digitised civil registration records held by GRO (birth entries from 1837 up to 100 years ago and death entries from 1837 to 1957). Orders for a PDF copy of a registration record must be made via our online ordering site; this service is not available via telephone or postal applications. The following document provides information on how to order a PDF, what information you will require and what a PDF copy of a registration record will look like.
Online View Digital Images Online view digital images for historic, digitised civil registration records held by GRO. The digital image will be displayed in JPEG format, which can be viewed, printed, or downloaded by the applicant for 3 months from the date of placing the order.
Commemorative Marriage Certificate Commemorative marriage certificates feature the original marriage details and are mounted within a presentation box. You can order special commemorative certificates for Silver (25th), Ruby (40th), Golden (50th) and Diamond (60th) wedding anniversaries as gifts or keepsakes.
13. What to do if you are not happy with the PDF/Online View digital image/Certificate you have received or the service we have providedUse our online form to send us a message. When you submit this form it will generate an email to us with the details you have supplied. We will respond to your email within 5 working days. Please note that any problems with your order must be reported to GRO within three months of the date the order was placed. |
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