Births being registered once more in Oxfordshire
New parents in Oxfordshire who have been patiently waiting to register the birth of their new-born child are now able to do so – with some already having attended appointments with registrars to complete the process.
In line with refreshed Government guidance, the council is now offering face to face birth registrations by appointment. Please note that in line with the General Registrars Office guidelines, births cannot be registered remotely by telephone or by video conference.
Registration services throughout the nation are currently going through the same process of reactivating birth registration. Birth registrations across the UK ceased during March due to the restrictions placed upon the country as part of the COVD19 pandemic.
A safe and COVID-19 secure space to register births at County Hall in Oxford has been set up to deal with appointments. Other locations may become available in due course.
There is currently a backlog of unregistered births and the council will register these chronologically, in order of the baby’s date of birth. Council staff are already contacting parents directly to make an appointment and the first batch of appointments to be released will be for parents whose babies were born up to March 9.
The first births were successfully registered at County Hall on Friday (June 5) with more appointments and registrations being set up over coming days and weeks.
Registrars can only register a baby if he or she was born in Oxfordshire. If a baby was born elsewhere, parents will be asked to contact the local registration service for that area, bearing in mind that they may not yet be operating appointments.
More detail on how the system will work
Oxfordshire County Council’s Registration Service receive a daily report showing all the babies which have been born in Oxfordshire, both in hospital and at home. The council will contact parents when taking appointments for the date when a baby was born.
Once an appointment to register the birth has been booked, parents will receive a confirmation email with important information about who should attend the appointment and what to bring. Please read this information very carefully.
Other useful information
- Certificates must be paid for when making your booking so please consider how many you wish to receive at your appointment. Certificates cost £11 each.
- Parents who are married or in a civil partnership should be aware that only one of them should attend the appointment. For those who are not married or in a civil partnership but who wish to include the father or second female parent’s details in the birth register, both parents should attend. It is requested that the baby should not be brought to the appointment.
- If any parents are self-isolating, living with someone else who is self-isolating or is showing any symptoms of coronavirus, they should not attend the appointment.
The council will continue to provide updates on its website relating to appointment slots for those babies born after March 10. Please refer to these updates and await a call from one of the team.