Register Office - General information

Follow the links below for information on each of our services.

• Citizenship ceremonies
• Civil partnerships
• Birth - registering
• Birth - re-registering
• Marriages - historical searches
• Marriage - arrangement and ceremony
• Marriage - historical searches
• Death - registering
• Deaths - historical searches 
• Registering a stillbirth

Our services

• We register all births, stillbirths and deaths that occur within the Wolverhampton registration district, including those for housebound customers.
• We register birth re-registrations.
• We annotate all adopted birth and re-registration entries.
• We take declarations from customers for births and deaths for other registration districts.
• We requisition customers regarding late registration of births.
• We notify relevant authorities of certain registrations - for example, we notify the Council Tax section of a death.
• We notify the Department of Social Security when a widow re-marries.
• We contribute to the collection of statistical information for the national index.
• We collect quarterly copies of marriage entries from clergies and authorised persons and pay the appropriate fees.
• We check accuracy and completeness and submit quarterly copies of births, deaths and marriage entries to the Registrar General.
• We collect and store completed registers from Registrars and Clergies.
• We attest notices of intention to marry from all Wolverhampton residents who wish to marry in the city and issue the authority to allow the marriage to take place.
• We license approved venues within the city.
• We perform civil marriage ceremonies at approved venues and the register office.
• We perform the above in homes and hospitals for housebound customers and detained persons.
• We arrange and perform civil ceremonies.
  We collect fees, both statutory and non-statutory, and account for all services provided.
• We issue copy certificates of births, deaths and marriages from records held.
• We arrange citizenship ceremonies.

Our service standards

• If we cannot comply with a particular request, we will give you a simple explanation of the relevant part of the law.
• We aim to see customers who have made an appointment within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. If you haven't made an appointment, we aim to see you within an hour of your arrival. In either case, if we think you may have a longer wait, we will explain why and give you a suggested time.
• If a birth or death cannot be registered for legal reasons, we will give you a clear explanation why.
• If the record you are looking for is held in Wolverhampton and we have enough information to trace and produce it, we aim to issue the certificate within 24 hours of getting your form back - if we cannot do this we will let you know why not.
• If you make a postal application, we'll produce the certificate within two working days, as long as you've enclosed the right fee and enough information for us to trace and reproduce it. If we either do not hold the record you are looking for or cannot trace it from the information you send us, we'll write and let you know within two days.

What you can do to help

• Please be punctual if you make an appointment.
• Give us accurate information.
• Allow yourself time for copies of certificates or other documents to be made.
• Please remember we have to work within the law. If we can't help you for legal reasons, we'll explain why.