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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: fridayschild on Thursday 19 November 15 16:24 GMT (UK)
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I have only just discovered that you can order certificates online from the Lancashire free BMD site. I needed to get a copy of a birth certificate for Richard Smith who was born in 1855, there are 3 listed for the same year and because the Mother's maiden name is included on the index I was able to order the correct one. I placed my order at 7pm on Tuesday Evening and the certificate arrived today ( Thursday). Fantastic service and I will definately use them again. :)
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Good sevice but was the price the same as through GRO?
Annie
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Are your Taylor's originally from Burnley? if so how far back have you gone? Just asking because I have Taylors from Burnley in my tree..
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Good sevice but was the price the same as through GRO?
Annie
They are £10 http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/birthinfo.php
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Yes they are slightly more expensive than ordering from the GRO but I knew I was ordering the correct certificate so it was well worth the extra.
Pendlelad, my Taylors originally came from Derbyshire and arrived in Burnley around 1870!
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It also has the advantage of being produced by the registration office that holds the original records, not from a copy held by GRO.
Local offices charge £10 (sometimes with a postage charge) instead of the GRO £9.25 and almost always arrive more quickly.
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It's great when you get the one with the original signatures etc rather than a handwritten copy, some provide handwritten copies. I would get them every time but they tend to be bigger than A4 size and don't fit into my files.
Blue
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The local BMD sites are a great resource if there's one for your area of interest. Some areas (but not all) give mother's maiden names. The sub-registration district can help you decide whether you've got the right record too.
For marriage records you get the name of the parish, and you know exactly which two people married each other instead of having four names on a page.
As fridayschild says, definitely worth paying a tiny bit extra for the certificate this way as you can be sure you've got the right record.
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Good sevice but was the price the same as through GRO?
Annie
They are £10 http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/birthinfo.php
Good value having read other replies.
I had to get a copy of my own BC just last week & it cost me £15 from a sub office (not the area I was born), typed up in front of me, not what I'd expected. I thought it would have been a copy of the original ::)........you live & learn.
Annie
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The costs of certificates is set by GRO, even for local registration offices - it is £10.
However, local offices can make additional charges for postage and for express or while you wait services.
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Has anyone tried to order a certificate from the online Lancashire certificate ordering service lately? I tried to order a death certificate a couple of months ago and got a "internal server error message" I have just tried again and got the same message, so I wondered if they were no longer offering an online service.
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Have you seen this, in case it makes a difference
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=743519.0
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Have you seen this, in case it makes a difference
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=743519.0
The Link on that Thread doesn't seem to work.
Romilly.
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The costs of certificates is set by GRO, even for local registration offices - it is £10.
However, local offices can make additional charges for postage and for express or while you wait services.
Legally only the GRO can make extra charges for a "priority service" . This was legislated for under two Amendment of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Orders the first in 2010 then again in 2014.
Local Registrars and Superintendent Registrars were not given legal authority to charge for a "priority service" and for them to do so means they are defrauding ever person who applies for a certificate under the standard service as they are allowing others to queue jump.
Cheers
Guy
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I hardly think that "defrauding" is an accurate description.
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The costs of certificates is set by GRO, even for local registration offices - it is £10.
However, local offices can make additional charges for postage and for express or while you wait services.
Legally only the GRO can make extra charges for a "priority service" . This was legislated for under two Amendment of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Orders the first in 2010 then again in 2014.
Local Registrars and Superintendent Registrars were not given legal authority to charge for a "priority service" and for them to do so means they are defrauding ever person who applies for a certificate under the standard service as they are allowing others to queue jump.
Cheers
Guy
Happy to change my original post to "local offices can often add additional charges for postage and for express or while you wait services."
Whatever the legality - I don't know of a registration office that doesn't offer such a service.
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The costs of certificates is set by GRO, even for local registration offices - it is £10.
However, local offices can make additional charges for postage and for express or while you wait services.
Legally only the GRO can make extra charges for a "priority service" . This was legislated for under two Amendment of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Fees) Orders the first in 2010 then again in 2014.
Local Registrars and Superintendent Registrars were not given legal authority to charge for a "priority service" and for them to do so means they are defrauding ever person who applies for a certificate under the standard service as they are allowing others to queue jump.
Cheers
Guy
Happy to change my original post to "local offices can often add additional charges for postage and for express or while you wait services."
Whatever the legality - I don't know of a registration office that doesn't offer such a service.
They seem incapable or unwilling to offer the While-you-wait service these days. Is it because the sub offices no longer store old ledgers at their local offices?
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Certainly the office I worked at until recently still offers a 1hr service to personal visitors, and do have the original registers for the area stored in the same building.
I visited a registration office in another area recently and had a certificate produced within about 20 minutes of asking - but with staffing reductions and cost cutting in all local services these days the options available (beyond the statutory requirements) in different offices will vary.
Ring them and ask - the staff who produced certificates at my office were extremely helpful (and knowledgeable).
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I have to say my confidence in ordering certificates through the Lancashire Free BMD online service has somewhat waned. I ordered a certificate on 30th August and having not received the certificate or an email to say it had been dispatched I have just rung them to see what is going on. I first tried the phone number that came on the email I received confirming my order to find out it is the phone number (03001231837)for the GRO, the lady I spoke to then gave me the correct number for Lancashire certificate services ( 03001236705) and when I rang them they told me that the waiting time for certificates ordered through them is now 3 weeks!
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This is Lancashire BMD not Free BMD isn't it? Doesn't the service you get depend on which registry has the record you want? For example ordering one of my Liverpool ancestor's marriage record takes me to Liverpool City Council's Family History Certificates page:-
http://liverpool.gov.uk/births-marriage-deaths/certificates-and-research/family-history-certificates/
Blue
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Always order from the GRO - £9.25 per certificate. And if you have the full GRO reference, then certificates are despatched within 5 working days, 15 days without the full reference.
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In an attempt to save money, Lancashire County Council have merged Certificate Services, which used to deal with the registers, in with Lancashire Archives at Bow Lane.
In turn, the Archives are no longer open 5 days a week. Maybe the staff there are handling certificate requests on the days when they are not open to the public?
The LCS section of the LCC website still claims you can order in person on Mondays, but I bet the door will remain locked.