Birth Certificate Consultation
Consultation on the format of new UK birth certificates for trans people
7th June 2003
The UK government is committed to introduce legislation to allow trans people who have obtained legal recognition to apply for new birth certificates, which will show their current sex rather than that registered at birth. This consultation is not about the procedures to apply for a new birth certificate, and it is not about who will be eligible for legal recognition. However, birth certificates have been issued in the past in many different formats, and the government wants advice from trans people on the best format for our new birth certificates.
Press For Change has agreed to consult the trans community and report back to government on what trans people want.
This webpage explains the different formats of birth certificate which have been issued, and outlines some of the decisions which need to be made on the format of our new birth certificate. Please read this page carefully before replying, using the contact details at the end of the page only.
Different registers
Currently, the General Register Office (GRO), part of the Office of National Statistics (ONS) keep the following registers:
- Live Births
- Adoptions
- Parental Orders
- Abandoned Children
- Consular Registrations
- Armed Forces Registrations
There are some other miscellaneous records where events on board merchant ships, on aircraft, hovercraft etc. are registered, but births are very few.
Most of us will have an entry in the Live Births register, so this article will work on that assumption. However, we still want to hear from you if you have a certificate that is a copy of an entry from one of the other registers.
Existing Certificates
Under the existing system, dating back to July 1837, births are registered with the local Registrar of Births and Deaths, who forwards copies to the GRO every three months (at the end of March, June, September & December).
These registers are not available for public inspection, although the GRO produces an index to all births (and marriages & deaths) registered, which is searchable by the public. These indexes can be found in many libraries as well as the Family Records Centre (FRC) and, since 1st April 2003, online at http://www.1837online.com (on a pay per view basis).
Certificates are copies of the relevant entry in the appropriate register. You can order a certificate from:
- The Superintendent Registrar for the district where the birth was registered.
- In person at the FRC in London.
- By post (and soon online) from the GRO in Southport.
Certificate Styles
All certificates have a background that is changed every few years for security purposes. To avoid confusion the background has been removed from the examples below.
The original layout used from 1837 to 1969 was long and narrow:
However, anyone that has this type of certificate that requests a new certificate will receive a slightly amended format. This is simply a change in the dimensions to A4 landscape - the information held is unchanged.
Those people whose birth was registered after 1969 have a different style of certificate which, as well as being in an A4 portrait format, also contains additional information.
Since 1968 bilingual certificates have been available in Wales but are not shown here. The fields on bilingual certificates have the same headings as English only certificates.
| Column Heading | Pre-1969 Column | Post 1969 Column | Comments |
| Registration District, Sub-district & Administrative Area | These details are on all certificates and refer to the place where the birth was registered. | ||
| NHS Number | This only appears on certificates for births between 1969 & 1995 | ||
| Entry Number | This is an internal reference used by the local Superintendent Registrar | ||
| Date & Place of Birth | 1 | 1 | Appear on all certificates. |
| Name [and Surname] | 2 | 2 | Only Post 1969 certificates have space for a surname - pre-1969 the surname of the father (or if no father given then the mother) is assumed for the child. |
| Sex | 3 | 3 | Pre-1969 certificates state Boy/Girl and Post 1969 certificates state Male/Female. |
| Name & Surname of father | 4 | 4 | Appear on all certificates, except where no father is recorded in the birth register. |
| Father’s place of birth | - | 5 | Only on Post 1969 certificates. |
| Occupation of father | 6 | 6 | Appear on all certificates where fathers name is recorded. |
| Mother’s Name & Surname [and Maiden name] | 5 | 7 | Maiden Mothers name appears on all certificates, but Maiden name only appears here on Pre-1969 certificates. |
| Mother’s place of birth | - | 8 | Only on Post 1969 certificates. |
| Mother’s Maiden name | - | 9(a) | Maiden name only appears here on Post 1969 certificates. |
| Mother’s Surname at marriage if different from Maiden name | - | 9(b) | Only appears here on Post 1969 certificates. Usually blank. |
| Usual address (if different from child’s place of birth) | - | 10 | Only appears here on Post 1969 certificates |
| Signature, description & residence of informant | 7 | - | Only appear here on Pre-1969 certificates |
| Informant’s Name & Surname (if not mother or father) | - | 11 | Only appears here on Post 1969 certificates |
| Informant’s qualification | - | 12 | Only appears here on Post 1969 certificates |
| Informant’s usual address (if different from column 10 above) | - | 13 | Only appears here on Post 1969 certificates |
| Signature of Informant | - | 14 | Only appears here on Post 1969 certificates |
| Date of registration | 8 | 15 | Appears on all certificates |
| Signature of registrar | 9 | 16 | Appears on all certificates |
| Names entered after registration [and surname] | 10 | 17 | Only Post 1969 certificates have space for a surname. Normally blank. |
| Signature of Registrar issuing certificate | Appears on all certificates | ||
| Date of certificate | Appears on all certificates |
A ’Short Form’ certificate is also obtainable (and will continue to be obtainable) which contails the following details only: Name, Sex, Date of birth, Registration District, Sub-district, Signature of Registrar issuing certificate & Date of certificate.
We will leave these ’Short Form’ certificates to one side however, as they do not present any of the problems associated with the ’Full’ certificate.
New Certificates
As can be seen from the table above, there are many differences in the information contained on certificates of the Pre & Post 1969 formats.
We need your input on what format the new certificates should take and the columns that should be included.
Some Problem Areas
Changed Surname
The biggest problem for those who re-register their births will undoubtedly be where the person has changed both name and surname and was born before 1969.
Possible solutions are:
- Issue of a Pre-1969 style certificate with only the forename(s) changed (and sex of course). This would however leave a lack of continuity of legal name (e.g. statutory declaration being from John Smith to Jane Doe and and a full birth certificate showing Jane with no surname, but with the assumption that the father’s surname Smith was the one in use. A short birth certificate in these circumstances would show the name as Jane Smith).
- Issue of a Post-1969 style certificate, enabling a surname which is different from the parents’ to be recorded. This however has the disadvantage that such a certificate may be queried due to the Pre-1969 date and the Post 1969 style. However, the date of registration would be post 1969 and all re-registrations and late registrations of births (some 15,000 or so each year) are made in the post 1969 format regardless of date of birth, so agencies are used to seeing this mix of dates and styles.
NHS Number
NHS numbers are recorded on birth certificates only for births registered between 1969 & 1995. Your original NHS number is based on the birth certificate number and, as everyone is issued with a new NHS number when they inform the medical authorities of their transition, we feel that the simplest solution is to omit this information (and box).
Sex
Perhaps the whole point of the exercise. However, should the entry read Male/Female or Boy/Girl or should it reflect the style used at the time of the original birth registration? If the style used is different from all other births registered in that format (e.g. Male/Female is used on a pre -1969 format certificate), the disadvantage is that the certificate may be queried because no other certificates in that format will use that description.
Details of Informant
It would be impossible to transfer the informants details from the original certificate to the new certificate as this would imply that the informant had given the new details.
There are two possible solutions to this
- Leave the relevant boxes blank.
- Omit the boxes altogether. This is what is done with Parental Order certificates which are issued under court order and with overseas births.
N.B. The seal shown here appears on ALL certificates issued by the GRO in Southport but not on certificates issued elsewhere.
Parent’s Place of Birth
Should anyone born before 1969 require a Post 1969 certificate (see Changed Surname) then the GRO will not have the information to fill in boxes 5 & 8. Could this be advised by the applicant?
Feedback
We need your feedback! This is your chance to make sure that the new documents will be suitable for you.
We would particularly like comments on the issues outlined above … but we’d also welcome feedback on anything else to do with the format of the new birth cerificates.
Please note that this consultation is not about the procedures to apply for a new birth certificate, and it is not about who will be eligible for a new certificate. It is only about the format of the document.
Please think carefully before replying. There are a lot of issues to consider, and we want to get it right.
We will collate your responses and forward a summary of your responses to government. We would like to be able to include the full text of your responses, but will not do so unless we have your permission.
If you want your response to be forwarded with your name and email address, please tell us by putting the following line at the top of your reply: “Please forward this reply to the government”.
If you want us to remove your name and email address before forwarding your reply, please put the following line at the top of your reply: “Please forward this reply ANONYMOUSLY to the government”
Birth Certificate - Office for National Statistics - © Crown copyright. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO