Register a birth

​The appointment will last about 30 minutes.

When registering the birth, you will need to tell the registrar:

• the date and place of birth of the baby
• the sex of the baby
• the baby's full names and surname
• the dates and place of birth of the parents
• the parents' occupations
• the mother’s maiden name
• the date of the parents' marriage (if applicable)
• where the parents are living

You will need to sign the completed register entry to confirm that all the information is correct.

The law has changed and free short birth certificates will not be issued from 1 November 2017. Full birth certificates can be requested at the appointment and will cost £11 per copy.

Please bring the baby's red record book, if available, when you attend your appointment.

You do not need to bring the baby to the appointment with you.

Your appointment to register a birth can take place at any one of our registration offices:

• Corby Registration Office
• Daventry Registration Office
• Kettering Registration Office
• Northampton Registration Office
• Towcester Registration Office
• Wellingborough Registration Office

You will need to re-register your child's birth if you want to make any of the following changes to their birth certificate:

• add the father's name to the birth certificate
• you have been married

Please complete the following steps:

1. Download the appropriate application form from the GOV.UK website.
2. Completed the form including which office you would like to attend to complete the re–registration.
3. Please post the forms and any appropriate original documents to:

Northamptonshire County Council
Registration Service Ground Floor/E3/006
One Angel Square
Northampton
NN1 1ED

We will then copy the documents and return to you by post.

We cannot accept photocopies but you will get all relevant documents back after the re-registration is complete.

You do not need to visit our office in person at this stage because you will not be able to complete the re-registration straight away.

4. We will check your paperwork and then contact you within a two weeks to make an appointment for you to visit the office at a later date to complete the re-registration.

Who needs to attend the appointment?

If you are now married, only one parent will need to attend the appointment.

If you are adding the natural father to a birth certificate and you are not married, both parents will need to attend the appointment.

I want to add another forename to my child's birth certificate

You can add another forename given to the child within its first year, at any time. The fee to do this is £40 plus £11 per copy of the new birth certificate. Please contact us for more information.

During your appointment the Registrar will ask you to check the register entry carefully before signing. Please check that all the information you have provided is correct, paying close attention to:

• names
• ages           
• dates
• addresses

Please note: It is your responsibility to ensure that all the information you have provided is correct before signing.

Once you have signed the register it becomes a legal document. Any corrections identified at a later date must be authorised, and this will incur a statutory fee of £75 to £90 plus the cost of any corrected certificates you require.

How do I get it changed?

If you think that information on a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate is wrong, you will need to provide evidence from the time of the registration showing the correct information.

When you have collected the evidence that you need to support your request for a correction, please email registrationservice@northamptonshire.gov.uk and include the following information:

• your name, address, telephone number and email address
• the name(s), date and type of certificate that you would like correcting
• details of the correction to be made
• details of the evidence that you will be submitting to support your request

Depending on the circumstances, the correction may or may not be simple to make so we will contact you to discuss your case in more detail and explain what happens next.