The Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987

PART XIII BIRTH AND DEATH CERTIFICATES

Certificate of registration of birth

62.  The form of certificate for the purposes of section 12 of the Act(1) (certificate by registrar that he has registered a birth) shall be form 20.

Application for short certificate of birth

63.—(1) Section 33 of the Act(2) (short certificates of birth) shall not apply in relation to still-births.

(2) The particulars to be furnished on an application under section 33(1) of the Act for a short certificate of the birth (not being a still-birth) of any person shall be–

(a) where that person has been adopted and the certificate is to be in respect of him as an adopted person–

(i) his name and surname,

(ii) the date of his birth,

(iii) the name and surname of his adopter or, as the case may be, his adopters, and

(iv) the date upon which, and the name of the court by which, the adoption order was made;

(b) in any other case–

(i) his name and surname,

(ii) the date of his birth,

(iii) the name and surname of his father,

(iv) the name, surname and maiden surname of his mother, and

(v) the place of his birth or the place at which his birth was registered.

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2)–

(a) no particulars shall be required if the application is made at the time of registering the birth;

(b) any particulars may be omitted which, in the opinion of the person to whom the application is made, it is not reasonably practicable for the applicant to furnish.

Form of short certificate of birth

64.  The form of short certificate of birth to be issued under section 33 of the Act–

(a) by a superintendent registrar or registrar, shall be form 21;

(b) by the Registrar General, shall be form 22.

Compilation of short certificate of birth

65.—(1) A short certificate of birth under section 33 of the Act shall be compiled, from the records and registers in the custody of the Registrar General or from the registers in the custody of the superintendent registrar or registrar (as the case may be), in accordance with the following provisions of this Regulation.

(2) In the case of a certificate in form 21–

(a) opposite the words “Name and Surname” there shall be entered–

(i) where the name and surname are recorded in the birth entry, that name and surname (being, in a case where these are recorded in both spaces 2 and 17 of form 1, the name and surname recorded in space 17),

(ii) where the person’s name but not his surname is recorded in the entry, that name (being in a case where this is recorded in both columns 2 and 10 of the entry, the name recorded in column 10) followed immediately, if the entry contains a surname which appears from the entry to have been used by his father or his mother at or after the date of birth, by that surname;

(b) opposite the words “Sex” and “Date of Birth” respectively there shall be inserted the relevant particulars from the birth entry;

(c) opposite the words “Place of Birth” there shall be inserted the names of the registration district and sub-district in which the birth was registered,

so however that if the place of birth is not recorded in the birth entry, the superintendent registrar or registrar shall remit the application to the Registrar General.

(3) In the case of a certificate in form 22 (not being a certificate to which regulation 66 applies)–

(a) opposite the words “Name and Surname” there shall be entered–

(i) where the name and surname are recorded in the entry, that name and surname,

(ii) where the person’s name but not his surname is recorded in the entry, that name followed immediately by–

(aa) if the entry contains a surname which appears from the entry to have been used by his father or his mother at or after the date of birth, that surname, or

(bb) if the entry contains the surname of his adopter or (as the case may be) his adopters, and the applicant so requests, that surname;

(b) opposite the word “Sex” there shall be entered the relevant particulars contained in the birth entry;

(c) opposite the words “Date of Birth” there shall be entered the date of birth recorded in the birth entry or, if no date is recorded, such date (if any) as may appear to the Registrar General from the information recorded in the birth entry to be the probable date of birth;

(d) opposite the words “Place of Birth” there shall be entered such (if any) of the following particulars as may be appropriate–

(i) where the register or other record containing the birth entry includes particulars of the registration district and sub-district in which the birth occurred or in which the birth is treated under any enactment as having occurred, the names of that registration district and sub-district,

(ii) where the birth is recorded as having occurred on a British ship (within the meaning of section 1 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894(3)), the words “At Sea” followed by the name of the ship on which the birth occurred,

(iii) where the birth is recorded as having occurred in an aircraft, the words “In an aircraft” followed by the particulars of the place of birth in the birth entry,

(iv) in any other case where the birth entry contains particulars as to the place of birth, those particulars,

(v) where the birth entry contains no particulars as to the place of birth, such particulars (if any) as to the country of birth as the Registrar General is satisfied can be obtained from any register or record in his custody.

Short certificate of birth in respect of certain children admitted to the Foundling Hospital

66.—(1) The form of short certificate of birth of a person in substitution for that set out in the Second Schedule to the Foundling Hospital Act 1953(4) (which provides for short certificates of birth for children admitted to the hospital before 30th January 1948 who on admission were given names and surnames different from those recorded on registration of their births), shall be form 22.

(2) A certificate under paragraph (1) shall be compiled as follows–

(a) opposite the words “Name and Surname” there shall be entered the name and surname given to the person on his admission to the Foundling Hospital;

(b) opposite the word “Sex” there shall be entered the relevant particulars contained in the birth entry;

(c) opposite the words “Date of Birth” there shall be entered the date of birth recorded in the birth entry or, if no date of birth is recorded, such date (if any) as may appear to the Registrar General from the information recorded in the entry to be the probable date of birth;

(d) opposite the words “Place of Birth” there shall be entered particulars of the person’s country of birth.

Applications for certificate of birth or death for certain purposes

67.—(1) Where a person wishes to make an application for a certificate of a live-birth or death for the purposes of any enactment specified in paragraph (2) the superintendent registrar or the registrar having custody of the register shall on request provide that person without charge with an approved form.

(2) The enactments referred to in paragraph (1) are–

(a) section 10 of the Savings Banks Act 1887(5);

(b) regulation 32 of the Savings Certificates Regulations 1972(6);

(c) regulation 25 of the Premium Savings Bank Regulations 1972(7);

(d) section 106(1) of the Friendly Societies Act 1974(8).

Certificates of death for certain purposes

68.—(1) The relevant officer shall without charge provide with an approved form a person who wishes to apply for the issue of a certificate of death for the purposes of Schedule 1 to the 1948 Act and of Schedule 5 to the 1974 Act.

(2) A relevant officer shall not issue such a certificate to an applicant unless the applicant certifies in the application that–

(a) he is the child, grandchild or stepchild of the person to whose death the application relates; and

(b) he is entitled to claim under an insurance taken out by him on or after 1st January 1924 on the life of that person.

(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4) more than one certificate of death shall not be issued to the same person for the purposes of Schedule 1 to the 1948 Act and of Schedule 5 to the 1974 Act.

(4) Where a person to whom a death certificate has been issued for the purposes of Schedule 1 to the 1948 Act and Schedule 5 to the 1974 Act makes and delivers to the relevant officer a statutory declaration stating–

(a) that the certificate has been lost or destroyed;

(b) whether any endorsement has been made on the certificate and, if so, by what registered society, branch or company; and

(c) that if the original is recovered he will surrender it for destruction to the superintendent registrar or the registrar,

the relevant officer shall issue to that person a duplicate of the certificate on an approved form.

(5) Where the statutory declaration states that on the certificate which the duplicate replaces an endorsement has been made by a registered society, branch or company, the relevant officer shall record on the duplicate certificate a requirement that it is to be produced to that society, branch or company for the endorsement to be repeated on the duplicate.

(6) Where a certificate of death is issued under this Regulation the relevant officer shall keep a record on an approved form of–

(a) the number of the entry in the register in respect of which the certificate is issued;

(b) the serial number of the certificate;

(c) the name of the person to whom it was issued and his relationship to the deceased.

(7) In this Regulation–

(a) “the 1948 Act” means the Industrial Assurance and Friendly Societies Act 1948(9);

(b) “the 1974 Act” means the Friendly Society Act 1974;

(c) “the relevant officer” means the superintendent registrar or the registrar having custody of the register in which the death is registered.

(1)

Section 12 was amended by Schedule 2 to the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Order 1968 (S.I. 1968/1242).

(2)

Section 33 was amended by section 10(1) of the Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c. 19) and by the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Order 1985 (S.I. 1985/1960).

(3)

1894 c. 60; section 1 was amended by Part I of Schedule 4 to the British Nationality Act 1948 (c. 56) (repealed).

(4)

1953 c.xxxvi.

(5)

1887 c. 40; section 10 was amended by Part III of Schedule 6 to the Post Office Act 1969 (c. 48) and by Schedule 4 to the Trustee Savings Banks Act 1985 (c. 58) and by the Schedule to the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Order 1985 (S.I. 1985/1960). The section is applied by regulation 32 of the Savings Certificates Regulations 1972 (S.I. 1972/641) and by regulation 25 of the Premium Savings Bonds Regulations 1972 (S.I. 1972/765).

(6)

S.I. 1972/641.

(7)

S.I. 1972/765.

(8)

1974 c. 46.

(9)

1948 c. 39.