The Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Regulations amend Schedule 1 to the Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) Regulations 2016 (“ the Fees Regulations ”), which set fees for applications and services in relation to the registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships in England and Wales.

These Regulations do not change the level of fee but will amend the description of whom the fee is payable to and for what service. It will also remove the term custody from the Fees Regulations where it concerns these services.

Currently, birth, still-birth and death records are held both electronically and in paper form and certificates relating to these are issued by the official who has custody of the register; corrections are also made by the official who has custody of the register. However, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (c. 18) introduces the electronic register for the registration of births, still-births and deaths therefore the term custody will no longer be relevant for these services. As a result, these Regulations are required to change who the fee is payable to, depending on the service being requested.

An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as a full impact assessment was published in relation to the provisions in the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Copies can be obtained from the UK Government Website at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690dd03447ad122f854627a8/data_use_and_access_act_enactment_impact_assessment.pdf or from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology at 22-26 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2EG, United Kingdom.