Births

The birth must be registered within 42 days (six weeks) of the birth of your child, in the district where the baby was born. If you cannot attend at Luton Register Office, you can go to another register office and register the birth by declaration and you will receive any requested certificates by post.

The mother of the baby.

Married parents

The mother or the father of the baby may register the birth alone if the parents were married to each other at the time of the birth.

Unmarried parents

If the parents were not married to each other at the time of the birth, the father's details can only be entered in the register in the following circumstances:

• the mother and father attend together
• the mother or the father, attending alone, bringing with them a statutory declaration signed by the other parent
the mother can choose to register the birth without the child’s father if they are not married and the father’s details will not be included on the birth certificate

Who else can register the birth?

Please email [email protected] or telephone 01582 510386 for further advice. Alternatively, more information on who can register a birth can be found at Gov.uk website.

• date and place of baby's birth
• for twins and triplets etc, the time of each baby’s birth
• forenames, surname and sex of the baby
• full names of parents and any other names they are known by or have previously been known by
• parents’ dates and place of birth
• parents’ Jobs
• parents’ date of marriage (if applicable)
• mother’s maiden surname

Please bring with you to the appointment:

• baby's NHS number (found on the discharge notes form the hospital or midwife or the red book)
• documentation showing spelling of parents names (eg passports)

Registering a birth is free of charge. Full and short birth certificates cost £12.50 each. A full certificate is required when applying for a passport.

More information about registering a birth can be found at Gov.uk.

If you realise there is an error on a birth registration, you should contact the Register Office where the registration took place. The non-refundable correction consideration fees are either £83.00 or £99.00 depending on the type of correction.Here is more information on correcting a birth registration.

Please contact the Register Office for more advice.

If you have difficulty with English please bring someone to interpret for you otherwise the registration may not proceed.