Registering a birth

Read the following before booking

If your child was born outside Cheshire East, you should contact the register office for that area. For example, if your baby was born at Wythenshawe Hospital you should contact Manchester Registration Service. If your baby was born at Stepping Hill Hospital you should contact Stockport Registration Service.

You must register your child within 42 days. Once your child is over 12 months old, we need to obtain the authority of the Registrar General before we are able to register the birth. Before making an appointment, please phone 0300 123 5019 and ask for further information on registering a birth after 12 months.

Many multiple births (for example, triplets or higher) are not an option for registering in the below form, phone 0300 123 5019 to ask for further information.

You can book an appointment online. When you book your appointment online you will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive an email, it means that the appointment has not been booked in our diary.

Book a birth registration appointment

Or book an appointment by phoning 0300 123 5019.

Birth certificates

The fee for a birth certificate is £12.50. The registrar is unable to take payment for a birth certificate during the appointment. You can pay for certificates in advance when booking online.

You can also pre pay for your certificate using the make a payment to the registration service online form.

Add the name of child you are registering, their date of birth and place of birth as reference. Bring your email receipt to your appointment. Without this we will not be able to issue certificates.

If you prefer, you can order certificates online after the registration appointment apply for a birth certificate. The fee is £12.50 per certificate plus postage of £2.00 for national or £5.00 for international. Your certificates will be posted to you within 5 working days.

Information the registrar will ask for

date and place of birth of the baby
sex of the baby
baby's full names and surname
dates and place of birth of the parents
parents' occupations
mother’s maiden name
date of the parents' marriage (if applicable)
where the parents are living

Please bring the baby's red record book, if available, when you attend for your appointment. To help ensure the accuracy of the information recorded in the register, it would be helpful if you could bring supporting documents with you (eg passport, driving licence, utility bill, birth and marriage certificates).

Accurate records will reduce the need for corrections to the entry in the future. Please note that there will be an additional fee to pay if a correction needs to be made to a birth entry.

Do not worry if any of these documents are not available as the registrar can still register the birth.

Options for registering a birth

Either parent may register the birth if the parents are married. If they are not married and the father's details are to be included in the birth entry, then both parents must attend together.

Parent Line Plus has a free helpline you can call to ask about your options when registering your child's birth.

If the mother and father are not married and the father's name is not entered in the birth register, it is possible for his details to be added at a later date.

This is known as re-registration of a birth and may be done providing both parents agree. For further information, please contact the Register Office where the birth was originally registered.

Appointments

Your appointment with the registrar will be held in private and will take about 20 minutes.

If you want to amend or cancel your appointment you will need to contact the Register Office.

Contact the Register Office

Page last reviewed: 27 June 2024