The United Kingdom GRO or General Register Office is responsible for handling all records related to births, deaths and marriages that have been registered in the country of England and Wales since the year 1937.
Types of Services & Charges
To directly apply for a birth/death/marriage/civil partnership certificate online, ensure to visit the official website here. If you want a full certificate with a supplied GRO index reference through priority service, then the cost will be 35 Pounds. However, if no GRO index reference is supplied, then the cost will be 38 Pounds. Any additional copies obtained at the same time will cost 35 Pounds each.
Under standard service, if you want a full certificate with a supplied GRO index reference, then the cost will be 11 Pounds. However, if no GRO index reference is supplied, then the cost will be 14 Pounds. Any additional copies obtained at the same time will cost 11 Pounds each. Furthermore, if you want a PDF copy of the certificate, then the cost will be 7 Pounds.
Priority service certificates are dispatched the next working day from the date of order (if ordered before 4 PM GMT) using first-class postage.
Alternatively, standard service certificates are dispatched on the fourth working day from the day of the order (when GRO index reference has been supplied) or the fifteenth working day from the date of order (when GRO index reference has not been supplied), using second-class postage.
A full certificate contains all the required information as recorded by the UK government. A small certificate contains less information with no details of parentage (especially for birth certificates).
Significance of the GRO Index Reference
If you provide the GRO index reference number, then the overall cost of obtaining a certificate will be cheaper while the time taken to process the application will also be lower. To obtain a transcription of the index between 1837 and 1983, you can visit. Additionally, if you need to research further on GRO index reference numbers, then you can click here.
It should be noted that the General Register Office will not be able to supply certificates for events that have taken place within the last 360 days (or 540 days if the certificate is related to marriage).
Records Maintained By the General Register Office
For birth and death records, the GRO contains all data from the month of July, of the year 1837, to six months before the current event. For marriage records, the GRO contains all data from the month of July, of the year 1837, to eighteen months before the current event. For civil partnership records, the GRO contains all data from the month of July 1837, of the year 2005, to the current date.
Steps to Order Birth/Death/Marriage Certificate Online
Certificates can be ordered online or via phone using payment systems like Visa Credit Card/Debit, Visa Electron, Maestro and MasterCard. However, the cost will be cheaper online than ordering via phone. Here is the official website for online orders.
To apply for a certificate, you will need to provide the following set of details: your complete name along with your address, your email address, your payment information and the overall details of the event that you’re applying for such as birth, death, marriage or civil partnership. Besides, the GRO will ask for full identifying information, if the event was recorded in the previous fifty years.
Moreover, before ordering do remember that the GRO will fail to cancel or make an amendment to the order(s), once the same has been placed. Consequently, the certificate will be folded as well as posted within a C5 envelope – for both standard and priority services.
