Order or change a birth certificate

Birth certificate costs £12.50 each. 

When booking your appointment to register a birth, you should pre-order your certificate(s) which will be given to you at your appointment.

You can also order certificates online any time after the registration.

You can change your child’s first and middle name within 12 months from date of registration at the Register Office by a process called space 17.

Baptised children

If your child has been baptised in the Christian faith, you will need to collect the 'name given in Baptism' form from the Register Office to take to the Minister of the Church where the child was baptised. Once this form has been completed, you will need to return it to the Register Office for the new name(s) to be be added to the original birth certificate.

Non-baptised children

If your child has not been baptised, you can collect and fill out the 'name not in baptism' form at the Register Office. Once the form has been completed the amended name(s) will be added to the original birth registration. 

Please note, the original information will always be shown in the register. After the change has been made and authorised, a note will be added to in space 17 of the birth entry with the new name. This will show that a name correction was made.

If you want to change the name of a child over 12 months old, you will need to change name via deed poll or complete a Statutory Declaration form with a solicitor.

Fees

The cost to change a child’s registered name is £40.

If there is a mistake on the original birth record, (for example a mistake in spelling a person’s name), you can apply to get a note added to the bottom of the original entry in the birth register. The error will still remain on the certificate.

How to apply

To apply for a correction, fill in the relevant correction form and send or bring it to the Register Office. You must include documents with your application that show what the correct information should have been.

Depending on what information you want to correct, we can be do this locally at the Brent Register Office or we may need to get approval from the General Register Office for approval. It can take up to 6 weeks for a certificate to be amended. 

Once the corrections have been approved and made, you can order a new certificate online, showing the correction.

Fees

There will be a charge of £83 for a correction made by the Register Office and £99 if the application requires referral to and authorisation by the General Register Office.

This fee does not include the certificate, which costs £12.50.