Frequently Asked Questions About Birth Certificates in the UK

All replacement birth certificates ordered through UK Certificates are government-issued official documents. You can use these as identification, as well as for other purposes…

• Identification for banking, passport and visa applications
• Identification to apply for a pension or government benefit
• Drivers license application
• Enrolment in education
• Proof of identity for a job application
• Ancestry and family history research

UK Certificates provide official long-form birth certificates, which can be used for all relevant legal purposes – including passport and visa applications.

Generally, a UK birth certificate will show the following information relating to the birth:

• District, sub-district and county where the birth was registered
• The full name of the baby
• Date of birth
• Location where the birth took place
• Full name of the mother, including maiden name and other previously held legal names
• The signature, residence and description of the informant – usually the mother
• Father’s full name and occupation – if this information was available and recorded at the time
• The date of registration of the birth
• The date the certificate was produced
• Government Registrar’s signature

Further Reading: Guide to Ordering a Birth Certificate in the UK

Birth certificates do not generally include the time of birth. The birth of multiple babies, i.e., twins, is an exception to this. We are unable to provide the time of birth if it hasn’t been recorded.

• England and Wales – registration commenced from the 1st of July 1837
• Scottish and Northern Irish registrations can go back as far as 1855 and 1864 respectively
• If you are searching for information prior to those dates for ancestry purposes, a good starting point would be cemetery archival records. Headstones can assist with the date of birth. Another option would be ancestry websites, such as Ancestry