Price rise at the General Register Office

Since 2010 the cost of certificates of birth, marriage and death has been steady at £9.25 each for the standard service and £23.40 for the priority service. These certificates are central to the research we carry out on your behalf and contain the evidence of blood relationships between a deceased and his or her statutory next of kin, as well as being useful in identifying documents generally.

From February 16^th 2019, GRO is increasing the cost of certificates to £11:00 for the standard service and £35 for the priority service. 

A search fee for applications without a reference reintroduced at £3.

Applications with wrong references will be charged at £3.50.

There is still no legal way for a local RO to charge a priority fee under this statute: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1268/pdfs/uksi_20181268_en.pdf 

PDF Project

The PDF project through the GRO for cheaper certificates may not be valid for a proof (5 working days), England & Wales birth events for the years 1837 – 1918 and death events for the years 1837 – 1957.
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/PDF_most_customers_want_to_know.asp#PDF2 

Standard from £6.00 to £7.

Priority new introduction £45.

These are the first increases of this type since 2010.

Impact on Fraser and Fraser Fees

Whilst the GRO price rises will not affect quotes for our work on a time spent basis, these will of course have an impact on the overall fee charged to our clients given disbursements such as certificates are charged at cost and are considered an estate cost.

Under our contingency fee options, any disbursements such as certificates or probates are absorbed within our fee which is either the contract the family sign or as agreed with us by the PR under our finders’ fee option.