Statutory Instruments
2020 No. 1093
Registration Of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Etc., England And Wales
The Births, Deaths and Marriages (Records and Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2020
Made
7th October 2020
Laid before Parliament
12th October 2020
Coming into force
9th November 2020
The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 65A, 71A(1)(h) and (2) and 74(3) of the Marriage Act 1949( 1 ) and sections 34A, 38A(1)(c) and (2) and 39A(1)(a) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953( 2 ).
In accordance with section 65A(5) of the Marriage Act 1949 and section 39A(2) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, before making these Regulations the Secretary of State has consulted the Registrar General.
Citation and commencement
1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Births, Deaths and Marriages (Records and Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 9th November 2020.
Amendments to the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships Records Regulations 2016
2. —(1)The Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships Records Regulations 2016( 3 ) are amended as follows.
(2) In regulation 1(2) (interpretation)—
(a) after the definition of “expedited service” insert—
“ “online view service” means a service provided via the website for the General Register Office which allows a person to—
search via that website for an entry in the Registrar General’s certified copies of entries, and
if the search locates the entry, submit a request via that website to view a record of information contained in that entry in electronic format; ” ;
(b) omit the definition of “portable document format”.
(3) In regulation 2 (provision of the information contained in a birth record)—
(a) in the heading, for “portable document” substitute “electronic”;
(b) for paragraph (1) substitute—
“ (1) The Registrar General may provide a record of information contained in an entry in the Registrar General’s certified copies of entries in the birth register, in electronic format, following—
(a) a request for the Registrar General to search for the entry and provide the record of information, or
(b) a request made via the online view service. ” ;
(c) in paragraph (2)—
(i) after “(1)” insert “(a)”;
(ii) in subparagraph (a), for “public website known as www.gov.uk ” substitute “website for the General Register Office”;
(d) after paragraph (2) insert—
“ (2A) A record of information provided by the Registrar General in response to a request made via the online view service must be provided via the website for the General Register Office ” .
(4) In regulation 3 (provision of the information in a death record) —
(a) in the heading, for “portable document” substitute “electronic”;
(b) for paragraph (1) substitute—
“ (1) The Registrar General may provide a record of information contained in an entry in the Registrar General’s certified copies of entries in the death register, in electronic format, following—
(a) a request for the Registrar General to search for the entry and provide the record of information, or
(b) a request made via the online view service. ” ;
(c) in paragraph (2)—
(i) after “(1)” insert “(a)”;
(ii) in subparagraph (a), for “public website known as www.gov.uk ” substitute “website for the General Register Office”;
(d) after paragraph (2) insert—
“ (2A) A record of information provided by the Registrar General in response to a request made via the online view service must be provided via the website for the General Register Office. ” .
(5) In regulation 4 (provision of the information in a marriage record)—
(a) in the heading, for “portable document” substitute “electronic”;
(b) for paragraph (1), substitute—
“ (1) The Registrar General may provide a record of information contained in a marriage entry in the Registrar General’s certified copies of entries in the marriage register and conversion register, in electronic format, following—
(a) a request for the Registrar General to search for the entry and provide the record of information, or
(b) in the case of an entry in the marriage register, a request made via the online view service. ” ;
(c) in paragraph (2)—
(i) after “(1)” insert “(a)”;
(ii) in subparagraph (a), for “public website known as www.gov.uk ” substitute “website for the General Register Office”;
(d) after paragraph (2), insert—
“ (2A) A record of information provided by the Registrar General in response to a request made via the online view service must be provided via the website for the General Register Office. ” .
(6) In the heading for regulation 5 (provision of information in birth records to Government departments), for “in electronic format” substitute “to Government departments”.
Amendments to the Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) Regulations 2016
3. —(1)The Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) Regulations 2016( 4 ) are amended as follows.
(2) In regulation 2, after the definition of “the 1953 Act” insert—
“ “online view service” means a service provided via the website for the General Register Office which allows a person to—
search via that website for an entry in the Registrar General’s certified copies of entries, and
if the search locates the entry, submit a request via that website to view a record of information contained in that entry in electronic format; ” .
(3) In Schedule 1 (fees payable), in the table—
(a) for row 15 substitute—
| “ 15 | Marriage Act 1949 section 64(2) | (a) Standard service for certified copy of an entry from the register kept by the superintendent registrar | £11.00 | The superintendent registrar |
| (b) Priority service for certified copy of an entry from the register kept by the superintendent registrar | £35.00 | The superintendent registrar ” |
(b) in row 51—
(i) in column 2 (services or matters for which fee is payable)—
(aa) for “portable document” (in each place it appears) substitute “electronic”;
(bb) for “conversion of civil partnerships register” (in each place it appears) substitute “conversion register”;
(cc) after (a)(ii) insert—
“ (iii) a copy of a record, through the online view service, of the information contained in the Registrar General’s certified copies of entries in the birth register, the death register and the marriage register. ” ;
(ii) in column 3 (amount of fee), as a corresponding entry to (a)(iii) in column 2 (services or matters for which fee is payable), insert “£2.50”.
(iii) in column 4 (person to whom fee is payable), as a corresponding entry to (a)(iii) in column 2 (services or matters for which fee is payable), insert “The Registrar General”.
Kevin Foster
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Home Office
7th October 2020
1949 c. 76 (12 & 13 Geo 6). Section 65A was inserted by section 99(1) of the Deregulation Act 2015 (c. 20) and has been amended by paragraph 18 of Schedule 15 to the Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19) (“the 2016 Act”). Section 71A was inserted by paragraph 1 of Schedule 15 to the 2016 Act. The title of section 74 was amended by SI 2009/2821 . Section 74(3) was inserted by paragraph 15 of Schedule 4 to the Immigration Act 2014 (c. 22) .
1953 c. 20 (1 & 2 Eliz 2). Section 34A was inserted by section 98(2) of the Deregulation Act 2015 and amended by paragraph 28 of Schedule 15 to the 2016 Act. Section 38A was inserted by paragraph 2 of Schedule 15 to the 2016 Act. Section 39A was inserted by paragraphs 1 and 17 of Part 1 of Schedule 6 to the Welfare Reform Act 2009 (c. 24) .
S.I. 2016/980 , amended by S.I. 2018/1268 .
S.I. 2016/911 , amended by S.I. 2017/947 , 2018/1268 .