Did you know we have a dedicated powers and duties tool?
Available to LG Inform Plus subscribers, it provides information on what current legislation gives English and Welsh councils the power to do and what it requires them to do in law. Advanced searching and filtering options make it easy to find specific powers and duties based on legislation, business function and keyword, and results are easily exported in commonly used formats.
Births, deaths and ceremonies Website navigation
Bereavement support (328) Service
Provision of information about how and where to get support and advice after a bereavement
Birth certificate amendments (320) Service
Re-registration of a birth may be required if there is a need to change the details of the original registration because of a change of circumstances. Corrections may be necessary if a mistake was made on the original registration. Both are carried out by the Register Office.
Birth registration (319) Service
Registration of a birth. Every birth in England or Wales must be registered in the district in which it takes place within 42 days of the date of birth. In Scotland, a birth must be registered in any Registration Office in Scotland within 21 days.
Cemeteries and crematoria (1538) Service
Provision and maintenance of cemeteries and/or crematoria. Information on location, opening hours and any regulations is provided.
Childminding and day care (20) Service
Registered childminders and daycare facilities which are available in the local area for parents and carers of pre-school age children.
Citizenship ceremonies (852) Service
Ceremonies organised for individuals who have been granted citizenship. Attendance at the ceremony is the final step in the citizenship process and applicants for citizenship are required to attend to complete their application. Ceremonies are typically held at regular intervals and may be for groups of new citizens or for individuals.
Civil funerals (875) Service
A civil funeral is a celebration reflecting the wishes of the deceased and their family. It is a personal and dignified tribute created by a professional celebrant who works closely with the family or executor and funeral director. The celebrant will aim to create a highly personal ceremony with the help of family and/or friends -recounting the person's experiences, attributes and qualities using music, poetry, readings and personal anecdotes. The civil funeral may be held anywhere except religious buildings and churches. The ceremony is appropriate for cremation or burial in a non-religious burial ground.
Copy certificates (663) Service
Issuing of copies of a certificate for a birth, marriage or death that was registered in the area.
Death - historical searches (324) Service
Searches of the records in a Registrars Office for details of a previously registered death. Copy certificates can only be obtained from the district in which the death was first registered. The minimum information needed to find an entry is the name of the person, place and year of death.
Death registration (321) Service
Registration of a death. In England and Wales a death should be registered in the district in which it takes place within five days of the date of death. Upon receipt of all required information pertaining to the deceased person a death certificate is issued by the registrar. In Scotland any death which occurs must be registered within 8 days by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. A death may be registered in any Registration Office in Scotland provided the death was in Scotland.
Exhumations (332) Service
Exhumation of both buried and cremated remains may require a licence. In England and Wales a Home Office licence is generally required. An Environmental Health Officer must be present at the exhumation and supervises the event to ensure that respect for the deceased person is maintained and that public health is protected. In Scotland when a body is required to be exhumed the order must be at the controls of the Procurator Fiscal. The Divisional Officer of the Bereavement Service is in attendance to ensure that the operators carrying out the task are supervised accordingly.
Funeral expenses payment (671) Service
Those in receipt of certain benefits may be entitled to apply for a funeral expenses payment from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Local authorities may provide information about entitlement and the application process for the funeral expenses payment
Funeral records (335) Service
The Registrar's Office maintains burial and cremation records for all cemeteries in the area. Citizens may apply to the Registrar to search burial and cremation records.
Grave purchasing (333) Service
In cemeteries run by the local authority citizens may buy a grave plot usually for a period of up to 50 years. There may be conditions attached to the purchase according to the type of grave i.e. whether a memorial can be placed on the grave etc.
Independent funerals (825) Service
Advice and information on how to organise a funeral without the use of a funeral director.
Marriage - historical searches (698) Service
Searches of the records in a Registrars Office for details of marriages which took place in the area. In England and Wales, copy certificates can only be obtained from the district in which the marriage was first registered. In Scotland, copy certificates can be obtained from any registration office. The minimum information needed to find an entry is the name of the persons and the date and place of the marriage.
Marriage or civil partnership registration (1716) Service
Registration of a marriage or civil partnership. Registration takes place as part of the ceremony with partners signing the marriage register or civil partnership document.
Marriage renewal (874) Service
These ceremonies give married couples the opportunities to renew their marriage vows and to celebrate their married years together. Every ceremony will be unique and special people in the couples lives can be invited to take part in the ceremony. Ceremonies are secular and do not contain religious references. They are not restricted to the couples area of residence. The ceremony has no legal status and the couples marriage certificate must be shown before a ceremony can be booked.
Memorial construction (334) Service
Memorials may be erected on graves which have exclusive rights of burial. Applicants must contact the council with exact details of the construction of the memorial, the method of erection and the inscription. Permission from the council to erect the memorial is required before the memorial is erected.
Mortuaries (325) Service
The mortuary service handles deaths that have been referred to the coroner or deaths where no death certificate can be issued.
Municipal funerals (329) Service
Provision of a community or municipal funeral service at fixed cost for local residents.
Naming ceremonies (873) Service
A Naming ceremony is a formal and dignified non-religious ceremony to celebrate the birth of a child or to welcome an adopted child or stepchild into a new family. The child or children can be of any age. Naming ceremonies have no legal status. ceremonies can usually be arranged at a Register Office or other approved venues.
Notice of marriage or civil partnership (876) Service
Couples intending to marry or form a civil partnership must both give notice to a registration office in the district where they have lived for seven full days immediately prior to giving notice. Notice must be given not less than 15 days before the ceremony. The registrar will issue an authorisation for the marriage or civil partnership to take place.
Repatriation of bodies abroad (327) Service
Where someone dies and their burial or cremation is to take place abroad a coroner can give permission for a body to be moved out of England or Wales. The country to which the body is to be repatriated may have regulations which the coroner must adhere to such as the provision of a cadaver certificate.
Repatriation of bodies to England and Wales (326) Service
If a death occurs abroad, the death should be registered according to the local regulations of that country. To bring a body back to England or Wales either the death certificate or an authorisation for the removal of the body from the country of death is needed. The registrar in the district in which the funeral is to take place has to issue a 'Certificate of No Liability to Register'. You can bring a body back to Scotland once you have got the death certificate and an authorisation for the removal of the body from the country of death from the appropriate authorities. To bring the body into Scotland you will need either an authenticated translation of a foreign death certificate or a death certificate issued in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, depending on the place of death.
Stillbirth registration (322) Service
Registration of a still-birth. Every still-birth in England or Wales must be registered in the district in which it takes place, normally within 42 days. This normally takes place at the Register Office (although the still-birth may be registered in the hospital in which it took place). Following registration a certificate will be issued. A still birth may be registered in any Registration Office in Scotland provided the baby was born in Scotland. Still births occurring in Scotland must be registered within 21 days.
Sudden death investigations (626) Service
Investigation of all sudden and unexplained deaths, as well as deaths in suspicious circumstances. In the UK deaths are usually reported to the Coroner (England and Wales) or Procurator Fiscal (Scotland) by the police, a doctor or the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Wedding venues (317) Service
Details of venues within the local area which are licensed to conduct civil marriage and/or civil partnership ceremonies.