Website of the UK government

Legal requirements

You must register the birth of your baby within 42 days of the birth in England and Wales, and 21 days in Scotland. If you can't go to the district where your baby was born you can go to another office (still within 42 days) and the registrar will send your details to the appropriate district office. If the baby was born within England and Wales however, it must be registered within England and Wales. The same applies for Scotland.

A birth which takes place in England can only be registered in English, but births in Wales may be registered bilingually in English and Welsh. To do this, the details must be given in Welsh and the registrar must be able to understand and write Welsh.

Register office opening hours will vary from one district to another and most operate an appointment system.

Who should register the birth?

If the parents of the child were married at the time of birth or conception, then either parent can register the birth on their own. If this wasn’t the case, then they need to decide whether or not they want the father’s name and details on the register.

 There are also ways to have a parent’s name included on the register even if they cannot attend at the register office. For more information, use the link below.

Local information on registering a birth

The following link will let you enter details of where you live and then take you to your local authority website where you can find out more.

• Find out about registering a birth Opens new window

Parental responsibility

Having parental responsibility for a child means that you are legally responsible for making decisions about your child’s life: for example on medical care and education. Married parents automatically have joint parental responsibility for their children, but this isn’t the case for unmarried parents. To learn more about parental responsibility, click on the link below.

• Find out more about parental responsibility

After registering your baby

You will receive a short birth certificate and a registration document that you will need to complete and take to your local doctor's surgery. Registering your child with a doctor without this registration document may be difficult, and you will need the birth certificate for a number of reasons including applying for Child Benefit.

• More information including who can register a birth Opens new window
• General Register Office: registering your baby's birth Opens new window

For details on the differences on how this issue is handled across the UK, visit our information pages on Northern Ireland and Scotland.

• Devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Information on naming ceremonies

Parents now have the option to have a naming ceremony for their child. This is a non-religious ceremony which celebrates the birth of a child and/or welcomes new children into the family (such as adopted children).

The parents can also nominate adults to support their child - a bit like nominating a godfather and godmother at a christening - although naming ceremonies have no legal standing.

A birth certificate must be produced at the time of booking the ceremony with your local council.

The following link will let you enter details of where you live and then take you to your local council's website where you can find out more.

• Book a naming ceremony Opens new window

More useful links

• Claim child benefit online
• Information on finding and choosing childcare