Register office

Searches of indexes – the register office does not have the staff to undertake indefinite or protracted searches. However, if you provide accurate details of the registration, we are happy to search in the birth, death or marriage index covering up to a three year period.

You will have to carry out wider searches in the indexes yourself.

Family history research certificates – please email or write to us with your request. If you come into the office, you can complete an application form, but the search will not be done straight away. We will ask for a contact telephone number and call you once we find the relevant entry in our registers. Once we find the entry, you can pay for the certificate over the phone by debit or credit card, and the certificate will be posted out to you. Otherwise you can call into the office and pay cash,  and the certificate will be ready to collect the next working day.~

General searches – the cost is £18 for you or someone on your behalf to search for up to six hours in the indexes relating to births, marriages and deaths in the Portsmouth registrar’s district. You will have access to the indexes, not to the registers themselves.  You can however, buy a certificate of any entry identified (see ‘Official copy certificates above’).

If there is doubt whether a reference in the indexes is the correct one, the registrar can verify those details in the register, as long as there are definite details by which the entry may be identified. Any additional information from the entry will only be made available in the form of a certificate.

The cost of checking the first eight references is covered by the general search fee, but an additional charge will be made for each subsequent reference checked, unless a certificate is issued from the entry, in which case the certificate fee only will be payable.

Corrections to a birth, death or marriage registration when incorrect information is recorded in the register.

It is essential that when registering a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership that you check the register entry for accuracy. A fee is now payable for corrections to be considered.

How do I apply for a correction?

You’ll need to complete an application form and you will need to prove that the information given at the time of the registration was wrong. The original documents that show what the correct information should have been will need to accompany your application.

These will be returned to you once we have taken copies. Depending on the nature of the correction, you may need to submit your application to the General Register Office for their consideration. You will be informed by the registrar if this is the case. The registrar will advise you when you apply if you need to make an appointment and what supporting documents you will need to submit.

Costs

With effect from 1 November 2017, following recent changes in legislation, a non-refundable fee of up to £90 is now payable for corrections to be considered. You will also be required to purchase new certificates. Certificate fees start from £11 each.

You can view the results of our most recent customer satisfaction survey here.