Registering a Birth

Your baby must be registered in the district where the birth took place. This can often be done at hospital before the mother goes home, otherwise it will require a personal visit to a register office. By law, this must be done within 42 days from the date of birth.

Legal Issues

• You must register a birth within the first 42 days from the date of birth
• A birth which takes place in England can only be registered in England.
• You can go to any registar's office to register the birth by ''declaration''.
• All entries need to be checked carefully. If a mistake is made on the register it could cause some trouble to have it corrected.

Who should go to register?

It all depends if the parents were married to each other at the time of the birth or conception. If they were, then either the mother or father can register the birth on their own. If they weren't, then who goes to do it will depend on a number of factors:

• if you want the father's details to be entered in the register, then both parents can go and sign the birth register together.
• if the father is unable to go to the register office with the mother, but you still want his details included, then he can make a statutory declaration on form 16 (or form 16W for births which took place in Wales) acknowledging his paternity, which the mother must give to the registrar.
• if the mother is unable to go to the register office with the father, she may make a statutory declaration acknowledging the father's paternity on the same form(s) as above, which the father can give to the registrar.
• where there is a parental responsibility agreement in force or either parent has obtained an appropriate court order, this document can be presented at the time of registration by either parent.

If the father's particulars are not recorded in the birth register, it may be possible for the birth to be re-registered to include his details at a later date.

Where do i go to register in Shrewsbury and Shropshire

Whether or not there is provision for registering at the hospital, you can go to any register office – though things will take a day or two longer if you go to one which does not cover the district in which the baby was born. This is because the registrar will need to forward your information to the district where the birth took place in order for the registration to take place – and it is from here that the birth certificate will be sent to you. Register office opening hours vary from one district to another and most operate an appointment system.

Shrewsbury's register office is based at opposite Shropshire County Council.

The address is available on the County Councils website.

 There are other offices located locally. Please visit the Directgov registering a baby Local Authority finder if you are out of the Borough. You will need to allow about half an hour to complete the registration process.

How Much does it cost?

Registration of a birth is free of charge and you will receive a short birth certificate as part of this process. If you require additional copy certificates they can be purchased at the time of registration, or at any time afterwards. You wont be able to register your child with a doctor until you have a birth certificate.

Please contact the local register office for prices.

Naming Ceremonies

Parents now have the option to have a naming ceremony for their child. This is a non-religious ceremony which celebrates the birth of a child and welcomes new children into the family (such as adopted children).

A birth certificate must be produced at the time of booking the ceremony with your local council.

Parental Responsibilities

Having parental responsibility for a child means that you are legally responsible for making decisions about your child's life: for example on medical care and education. Married parents automatically have joint parental responsibility for their children, but this isn't the case for unmarried parents. To learn more about parental responsibility, please visit the Parental Responsibilities section of the DirectGov website.

If you have misplaced any documents you can request replacement documents. Please visit the document replacements section of our website for information on requesting them online.