Registering a birth in the UK

What the law requires

Every birth in the UK must be registered, and the deadline depends on which nation you are in:

• England, Wales and Northern Ireland: within 42 days of the birth.
• Scotland: within 21 days of the birth.

Registration itself is free. You pay only for certificates, and you will want at least one certified copy because the register entry is not something you can carry around.

Registering produces the birth certificate, and the birth certificate is what unlocks almost everything else: a passport, a school place, proof of identity for life. It also fixes who is recorded as the child's legal parents, which is the part that is hardest to change afterwards.

Where to register

In England and Wales, register at the register office for the district where the baby was born — not where you live, if those differ. Many hospitals have a registrar attending on site, and you can often register before the mother is discharged, which is by far the easiest option.

If travelling to the district of birth is impractical, you can go to a register office elsewhere and make a declaration. Your details are then transferred to the correct office, which issues the certificate and posts it to you. It works, but it takes longer.

In Scotland you can register at any registration office in Scotland, regardless of where the birth happened. Scottish registrars also offer registration by telephone or video call in many council areas. Registration in Scotland comes with a free abbreviated extract of the birth certificate; a full extract costs extra.

Most register offices require an appointment. Book it as soon as you have a date that works — appointment availability, not the legal deadline, is what catches people out.

Who can register, and why it matters

If you are married or in a civil partnership

Either parent can register the birth alone, and both parents' details go on the certificate. It does not matter which of you attends. This applies if you were married or in a civil partnership at the time of conception or of birth.

If you are not married or in a civil partnership

This is where it gets consequential. For both parents to appear on the birth certificate, one of the following must happen:

• Both parents attend and sign the birth register together. This is the simplest route.
• One parent attends carrying a completed statutory declaration of parentage signed by the other.
• One parent attends with a court order granting the other parental responsibility.

If the mother registers alone without any of these, the father's details are not included on the birth certificate. That is not merely a paperwork gap: in England and Wales an unmarried father acquires parental responsibility by being named on the birth certificate, so leaving him off has legal effect. It can be corrected later by applying to re-register the birth and add the natural father's details, but re-registration is a separate application with its own evidence requirements. Doing it right the first time is much simpler.

If you are registering alone and want to record the other parent, expect the registrar to ask for proof of paternity before adding their details.

What to take with you

You do not legally need documents to register a birth, and a registrar will not turn you away for lacking them, but bringing what you have speeds things up considerably:

• The hospital discharge summary or the card issued at the birth, showing date, time and place
• Your marriage or civil partnership certificate, if applicable
• Photo ID for the parent or parents attending
• Proof of address

You will be asked for the baby's full name, sex, date and place of birth, and each parent's full name, date and place of birth, address and occupation. Decide on the name before you go — changing it afterwards requires a formal correction.

If you miss the deadline or cannot attend

Late registration is still possible and you should simply contact the register office and explain. Registrars deal with this routinely and the priority is getting the birth on the register, not penalising you. What you should not do is leave it indefinitely, because an unregistered birth blocks passports, school applications and identity checks later on.

Importantly, you do not have to wait for registration to claim Child Benefit. HMRC accepts a Child Benefit claim before the birth is registered, and backdates it — so send the claim in and add the certificate details afterwards rather than losing weeks of entitlement. The same principle applies to Universal Credit child elements.

For births outside the UK, registration is handled by the country where the birth took place. Registering a birth with a British consulate is optional and does not replace local registration, though it does produce a UK-style consular birth registration record.

If the baby died, or was stillborn

A stillbirth — a baby born after 24 completed weeks of pregnancy who did not breathe or show signs of life — must also be registered, within the same 42 days in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 21 days in Scotland. Registration produces a certificate of registration of stillbirth. If a baby is born alive and then dies, both the birth and the death must be registered, and register offices will normally handle both in a single appointment. Registrars are used to these conversations and you can bring someone with you. The bereavement midwife at your hospital can make the appointment on your behalf.

Where to get help

GOV.UK is the governing authority for birth registration in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and its register a birth service will find the correct register office for the district of birth and, in most areas, book the appointment. In Scotland, mygov.scot links directly to all 32 councils' registrar services. The General Register Office handles ordering additional certified copies later, re-registrations, and corrections to an entry already made.