Birth, death and marriage registration

All births which occur at Medway Maritime Hospital or anywhere else within the boundary of Medway Council have to be registered at the Medway Register Office.

A birth registration should be made within six weeks of the birth of the baby.

Registrations are made by appointment to avoid unnecessary waiting. Appointments can be made between 9.30am and 3.30pm, Monday to Friday. To arrange an appointment please use the contact details at the foot of this page.

If this is not possible, the registration may be made by visiting any registrar’s office in England and Wales to make a declaration. This is a statement that the local registrar will send to the Medway Register Office where the registration will be made. In this case, the birth certificate and the form to enable the parent or guardian to register the baby with a doctor will be sent by post, normally within one week. Similarly, registrars at Medway are able to take declarations for births which take place outside the Medway area.

Birth registration is free and parents or guardians are given a free short birth certificate which can be used for child benefit applications. Full certificates are now required for first passport applications for children and these certificates can be purchased at the time of registration. When attending, it is very helpful to bring the letter issued by the hospital which confirms the date of birth and national health service number of the baby.

If the birth is not later re-registered, the surname of the child cannot later be changed on the registration entry.

If the parents are married to each other or were married at the time of conception, only one parent needs to attend to make the registration.

If the parents are not married to each other, the father’s details cannot be recorded if he does not attend with the mother to make the registration unless:

• the mother attends:
  
  
• with a statutory declaration made by the man acknowledging that he is the father or
• with a sealed copy of a parental responsibility agreement made between the parents in respect of the child or
• with a certified copy of an appropriate court order naming the father.

or

• the father attends:
  
  
• with a statutory declaration made by the mother acknowledging that he is the father or
• with a sealed copy of a parental responsibility agreement made between the parents in respect of the child or
• with a certified copy of an appropriate court order naming the father.

Please contact the Register Office for further advice.

If a father is not named on a birth entry and the parents later decide that he should be named or if the father is named and the parents later marry each other, the birth can be re-registered.

A father acquires parental responsibility with the mother if he is named on a birth entry made after 1 December 2003.

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