The General Register Office is an integral part of His Majesty's Passport Office and protecting your privacy is very important to us.
Any personal data you provide to GRO will be handled in compliance with current UK data protection legislation.
The statement below outlines how we use your personal data when you access this site to order a certificate, a pdf copy and/or a digital image of an entry.
It does not apply to any other companies' or organisations' websites to which we may link, including our payment service provider Worldpay.
What information do we collect from you and why?
Information held at the General Register Office has been compiled from records of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships received from registration officers and local authorities in England and Wales, records of overseas events registered by British authorities, such as consuls and the Armed Forces and adoption orders issued by the relevant courts. The law permits information to be provided from registration records in the form of a certificate, a pdf copy and/or a digital image of an entry.
Before you can search our online indexes or place an order for a certificate, a pdf copy and/or a digital image of an entry, you will need to create an account on our system. We require an e-mail address which will also act as your username and will be used to verify your account, as well as a delivery address. The provision of any other information, such as your telephone number, is optional but it may assist us if we need to contact you about your order. We will use your information 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.
We would also like to contact you to ask if you are satisfied with our services. This will ensure we continue to improve the service we provide to our customers. If you agree to be contacted for this purpose please tick the box during registration or acceptance of these policies. You can opt in or out of being contacted by GRO for this purpose via the My Details page once logged in.
Your payment details, e-mail and delivery address will be passed to Worldpay, so that the payment for your order may be taken. Worldpay provide this service for the General Register Office and are responsible for all credit/debit card transactions over a secure line. A copy of their privacy statement can be viewed on Worldpay's website.
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.
Cookies are also used to help speed up the online ordering process, so that you do not need to re-type the same information a number of times and helps 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.
For more information please see our Cookie Policy.
Certain exceptional disclosures
We may disclose your personal data if we believe such action is necessary to comply 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 password at any time. To change your email address you will need to create a new account 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. Our full Privacy Information Notice can be found on the GOV.UK website.
If you have any questions about this statement or the practices of this site, please email
gro.communications@gro.gov.uk