Remote registration of Births or Deaths

The attached Registration Privacy Notice (150KB PDF) tells you what happens to personal information when a life event is registered.

Sections 25 to 27 of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 make provisions which enable remote birth (live and still-birth) and death registration to be an option across Scotland on a permanent basis from 24 September 2022. In-person birth and death registration must remain available as an option across Scotland.

In-person registration

Following the implementation of the Calling In the Register Pages project, if an informant attends at a registration office to provide the particulars for registration in the presence of the registrar, the Registrar General has provided approval that a transcribed signature by the registrar on behalf of the informant may be used to attest the information. 

A link to the Registrar General’s approval for each registration district can be found in the links below:

• Registrar General Approval on Transcribed Signatures – Group 1
• Registrar General Approval on Transcribed Signatures – Group 2
• Registrar General Approval on Transcribed Signatures – Group 3
• Registrar General Approval on Transcribed Signatures – Group 4

A link to the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) regarding this approval can be found here.
 

Remote registration

In accordance with sections 14(1A)(b) and 23(1A)(b) of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965 (as amended by the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022), a District Registrar may, with the approval of the Registrar General for Scotland, direct that arrangements be put in place in their district for the gathering of particulars during a remote registration.

If you wish to register a birth or death remotely, please consult the council website or contact the local authority (registration office 148 KB PDF) where you wish to make the registration to discuss what arrangements are in place for remote registration in the district.

Where remote registration is in place and an informant does not attend the registration office to provide the particulars for registration, the register page may be attested on behalf of an informant, by the registrar. The Registrar General has approved that during a remote registration, the registrar should ask the informant(s) how their usual signature reads. The registrar should then insert the signature on to the register page followed by “(Transcribed)”.

The Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 includes provision so that the application of a transcribed signature to a register page by a registrar on behalf of an informant is a valid method of attestation.

Electronic Registers

There are powers in section 32(1A) of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965 which enable the Registrar General to determine that a register of births, deaths, still-births or marriages or the Register of Corrections Etc. may be electronic rather than paper-based. Section 29 of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022, by amending provision in the Civil Partnership Act 2004, has added a power for the Registrar General to determine that a civil partnership register may be electronic.

A link to the Registrar General’s determination for each registration district can be found in the links below:

• Registrar General Determination on Electronic Registers – Group 1
• Registrar General Determination on Electronic Registers – Group 2
• Registrar General Determination on Electronic Registers – Group 3
• Registrar General Determination on Electronic Registers – Group 4

A link to the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) regarding this determination can be found here.

Last updated March 2024