new price for GRO certs

[Selina]

It will make a difference to what certificates I buy. There are very few that I really need but there are many that I would like.

I will now buy the few and the others, which I would have purchased a two or three at a time, I shall now leave.

I have signed petitions before but now realise that they are a complete waste of time.

I don't agree with the price increase, I didn't agree with the original price.

Selina

[matt94]

I would image the answer to your petition would be something along the lines of-

 "If we allow the fee for certificates to remain at £7 that would mean that millions of tax payers were subsidising the production of the requested certificates

This has never been a problem before, therefore why should it be a problem now? All the way through the recession the prices have remained the same, and their reasoning that it 'would make things easier' for customers is pure idiocy.

Matt

[Guy Etchells]

Going by the large  number of people doing ancestry! I think some people in  a coming event  may be concerned over this issue! in marginal thingies! if informed

Perhaps but vastly more people are concerned about fuel prices, provision of essential services etc that make a £2.25p increase in certificates insignificant.
What would win more votes a 5p or even a 1p reduction in fuel (petrol, diesel) or a £2.50p. reduction in certificates.
That is the way MPs would think, family history would not even cause a blip on their radar.
Cheers
Guy

[CathieM]

At the risk of getting shot down, I think the revised charges are reasonable compared to my other hobbies - a new paperback is £8 or so, cinema tickets at about £9, a concert at my local music centre is at least £20.  At least with the certificate, I have it to look at forever.  It is not free to provide these services - staff want a decent wage, computer systems and buildings need to be maintained, correct physical storage is not a cheap commodity.  Yes, I will think twice before ordering a certificate but only to make as sure as I can that I am ordering the correct certificate and I will be examining other sources such as parish records, transcriptions and so on for clues more carefully.  Maybe it will make my research more thorough

[poolqwizrd]

Hi all

So the way i see it is this, the GRO themselves say they get over 2million requests a year, lets say all are of normal standard rate, thats £14million the  price increase will make that £18.5 million, if they cant make money from that then thats their fault. A serious question here is what do they have to do to make that £7, from me clicking the order button to it dopping through the door, what work is involved. Il tell you what this is to all you that think its ok. Family history used to be a niche part of the market, but in the last few years its growth has been massive, so I always knew this would happen, every time something gets popular the price goes up, not cos its more work but because they know they cam rob a lot more people and gain a lot more money, some may knock down how many they buy but most wont and all this money like everything in this country will got to the suits who do nothing but count bonuses all year even after failing to do their job.

An Angry pool

[andycand]

Hi

It is not free to provide these services - staff want a decent wage, computer systems and buildings need to be maintained, correct physical storage is not a cheap commodity

A serious question here is what do they have to do to make that £7, from me clicking the order button to it dopping through the door, what work is involved.

On top of the staff actually dealing with the requests there would be other staff such as reception, accounts, administration, management, cleaners, IT staff then there is power, computers, phones etc. and no doubt there are more costs I've not listed. 

If the GRO run at a loss then the taxpayers are subsidising it, as an Australian citizen I should be rather pleased that the British taxpayer is subsidising mine, and the many others from overseas, hobby but I doubt if my English relatives would agree and consequently believe its only fair that the costs of the service should be recovered from fees and believe the new fees are reasonable.

Has anyone checked to see if there are any sort of budget documents to support the increase?

Andy
 

[poolqwizrd]

The more people that use the GRO the more they will pay for computers and lights and heating, ie if u have 20 pcs and they are used 65 % thats not good cos they will still be on and wont be paying for the leccy they use, All the "permanent fixtures"will be there and getting paid wether u get 1 cert order or 1000, surely the best thing to do is get 1000 and get the overheads to pay for themselves, they get 14 million to pay for all that equipment and wages do people really think they cant afford to pay for that with £14 million, Just how much are these people getting paid??

At this time I have 33 certs so if they had been bought at the new price it would be a difference of £74, mite not sound a lot but with that £74 i could have bought another 10 certs!!

Just to clear, my point is not that tax payers should pay, my point is tax payers shouldn't need to. yes we can all expect things to go up, thats life but to jump from 7 to 9.25 in one swoop is surely a big jump too far. I think the problem is that too many companies now use the recession as an excuse to exploit people.

[DudleyWinchurch]

Pure hypothesis, but is the real issue that GRO have just realised that it is part of their duty to do the searches so they should not be charging for it?

Hence to get back the cost, they are going to make everyone pay the same as if a search was involved and to "encourage" people to do their own searches and not add to the work they are putting a "time penalty"on the ones with searches.

I presume this means that if they fail to provide a certificate that conforms to the requirements specified  by the customer then they will now have to pay back all the money, as with any other other business.

[Redroger]

Interesting point Dudley, hopefully the Mandarin in charge of this sector has his minions watching this thread.