Certificates from Superintendent Registrars

[Guy Etchells]

Have any forum members had their request for a certificate from a
superintendent registrar refused?

I have heard that some city offices refuse to issue certificates for
family history purposes referring the applicant to the GRO and would
like to ascertain whether this is true or simply urban myth.
If you have had a request refused by a Superintendent Registrar please
contact me.
Thanks
Guy

[Victor Harvey]

Hi Guy,
I have never had a certificate application refused, either by GRO or my local Registrar's office. Here in Gloucestershire they charge £10 for a copy certificate whilst at GRO it is £9.25.
Victor

[Jill on the A272]

Not refused but had my letter and cheque returned as the local registrars in Haywards Heath no longer issue them, in West Sussex it has to be done via Chichester now, Chichester issued it with no problems.

[smudwhisk]

I know when we first started researching in 1998/99 some of the London local Registrars weren't keen on issuing marriage certificates because they apparently had to find them through the parish records, or that is what we were told.  There were one or two occasions when the cheques were returned and we ended up ordering through the Family Records Centre because at the time I was going down to London fairly regularly.  I can't be certain which registrars it was though as some time ago but didn't bother ordering any more marriage certificates from them after that time.  There was never an issue with birth and death certificates.

For sometime now, though, have been ordering through the GRO as saved the price of a stamp and since the price increase a few years ago with local Registrars charging more than the GRO, wouldn't have done anyway.

[dawnsh]

I think it's a myth, they have a legal requirement to issue them providing the local office still holds the registers as Jill mentions (many are now deposited centrally as the registration services have changed and become more regional) and that the information you supply matches the entry to their satisfaction.

I do know that some city offices are so busy dealing with recent events, historic certificates have less priority than those required for recent, births and deaths. Maybe it is these type of enquiries that are causing the myth as the supply of historic certificates means they cannot keep to their service level agreements. Most offices try to turn certs around in 5 working days.

Local government financial cutbacks are affecting the registration services as they try to lower their overheads through staff cuts. The local registration services are no longer run by the GRO.

[smudwhisk]

I think it's a myth, they have a legal requirement to issue them providing the local office still holds the registers as Jill mentions (many are now deposited centrally as the registration services have changed and become more regional) and that the information you supply matches the entry to their satisfaction.

Can't speak for recent years but it definitely wasn't a myth when it happened to us but it was some years ago and they definitely said they couldn't issue it.  The marriage concerned wasn't a registry office marriage either.

[Guy Etchells]

Thank you to all those who replied both on the forum and direct to my email.

It seems there was a problem mainly with three London offices but also with a couple of provincial where it to some extent depended on who was contacted.
In many cases the problems were with requests for marriage certificates but some offices refused requests for any "historic" certificate.
Those who did supply the certificate gave them a low priority meaning longer wait times.
Cheers
Guy

[weste]

Not been refused but one local office in the west midlands used to give next working day as standard by 10 am. They have this year changed to 5 working days and obviously has gone up to ten pounds per cert like other reg offices. A week later went to collect but was n't ready. looked it up and then asked me to come back in half hour as printing problems which I did. In future I am ordering from the gro or is this what they want us to do? I did to talk to my local family history society who had a talk from the local reg office and they were apparently open about  the changes and said it was due to too high a demand for certs.