The Public Record Office (Fees) Regulations 2017

Statutory Instruments

2017 No. 289

Public Records

The Public Record Office (Fees) Regulations 2017

Made

6th March 2017

Coming into force

1st April 2017

The Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Treasury, makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(5) of the Public Records Act 1958(1).

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Public Record Office (Fees) Regulations 2017 and come into force on 1st April 2017.

Fees

2.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), the fees to be charged for authenticated copies or extracts from records under the charge of the Keeper of Public Records and for other services afforded by officers of the Public Record Office are to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule.

(2) In the Schedule—

(a) where a fee is prescribed by reference to a period of time, the whole fee is payable in respect of a partially completed period;

(b) where a fee is prescribed for a copy of an image by reference to a specified size, the size is that of the image to be copied and not that of the copy;

(c) where a fee is prescribed for a copy or photograph of a page of a record, the fee is payable for a copy or photograph of each side of a page which forms a record or part of a record;

(d) all fees are exclusive of value added tax.

(3) The Keeper of Public Records may remit a fee where, in the Keeper of Public Records’s opinion, the service performed or to be performed has been, or is likely to be, exceptionally simple.

Revocation

3.  The Public Record Office (Fees) Regulations 2015(2) are revoked.

Karen Bradley

Secretary of State

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

1st March 2017

We concur.

David Evennett

Andrew Griffiths

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

6th March 2017

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE

Item		Fee (£)(3)
Research
1	For undertaking research and sending the results to the requester, for each 15 minutes expended	23.35 (22.75)
Authenticated copies of naturalisation certificates
2	For making a copy of a naturalisation certificate that is a record and authenticating that copy by certification	27.40 (25.95)
Other copies of records
3.1	For making a monochrome paper copy of research quality of a page of a record up to and including size A3, using self-service equipment	0.30 (0.30)
3.2	Where a person requests any number of copies or photographs of no more than 100 different pages of records:
	(a) for carrying out a page check in order to supply an accurate quotation based on the number of pages involved (per record)	8.40 (8.24)
	(b) for making a monochrome paper copy of research quality of a page of a record up to and including size A3	1.30 (1.10)
	(c) for making a colour paper copy of research quality of a page of a record:
	(i) up to and including size A3	4.95 (4.90)
	(ii) larger than size A3	9.55 (10.05)
	(d) for making a colour digital copy of research quality of a page of a record:
	(i) up to and including size A3	1.10 (1.10)
	(ii) larger than size A3	8.65 (10.05)
3.3	Where a person requests any number of photographs of no more than 100 different pages of records, for supplying a high resolution digital image of a page of a record of any size	38.75 (35.00)
Bulk copies of records
4.1	Where a person requests any number of copies or photographs of a type described in item 3.2 or 3.3 of more than 100 different pages of records:
	(a) for any necessary preparation of records prior to copying, in addition to the costs of any materials used in such preparation, for each 15 minutes expended	16.20 (15.65)
	(b) for the production of the copies and for checking their quality, in addition to the costs of the materials on to which copies are produced and any costs of delivering those copies to the requester, for each 15 minutes expended	14.90 (15.20)
4.2	For providing an estimate for work to be carried out which involves any matter covered by item 4.1, for each 15 minutes expended	12.10 (11.30)
Authentication of other copies and records
5.1	For authenticating, by certification, a copy of a record or any part of a record (excluding the fee for making the copy)	19.20 (25.00)
5.2	For attending a place other than the Public Record Office to produce and verify the authenticity of a record or any part of a record, in addition to reasonable expenses for travel, accommodation and subsistence, for each 15 minutes expended	28.20 (29.65)
Preparation of records for external exhibition
6.1	For preparing records for exhibition at a place other than the Public Record Office, in addition to the costs of materials, transporting those materials or the records and any expenses for travel, accommodation and subsistence, for each 15 minutes expended	22.10 (19.85)
6.2	For providing an estimate for work to be carried out which involves any matter covered by item 6.1, for each 15 minutes expended	22.10 (19.85)
Digital Downloads
7	For downloading a digital copy of a record from any part of the website on which the records under the charge of the Keeper of Public Records appear(4), unless that record is made available for downloading from that website free of charge	3.50 (3.45)
Postage and packaging
8	Postage and packaging to be charged at cost for a copy not collected in person by the requester which cannot be sent by e-mail, or which the requester asks to be sent by post

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe the fees to be charged for authenticated copies of extracts from records under the charge of the Keeper of Public Records and for other services afforded by officers of the Public Record Office which exercises its functions as part of The National Archives. The fees listed in the Schedule are exclusive of value added tax.

The Regulations revoke and replace the Public Record Office (Fees) Regulations 2015 (S.I.2015/2042). The fees prescribed in the Schedule mainly increase the fees prescribed by those Regulations for those services but five of those fees are reduced and two remain the same.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no, or no significant, impact on business or civil society organisations.

(1)

1958 c. 51. Section 2 was amended by S.I. 2015/1897.

(2)

S.I. 2015/2042.

(3)

The fees shown in brackets are those prescribed in S.I. 2015/2042 as payable for the same services.

(4)

The records in question appear on the website of The National Archives ( www.nationalarchives.gov.uk ).