Improvements to copy certificate service

Shropshire residents will be able to obtain copies of birth, marriage and death certificates more quickly and securely from this Thursday (3 April) when a next-day priority ordering service is introduced by Shropshire County Council’s registration service.

The new ‘gold’ service offers same day collection or next day delivery, if an application for a certificate is received by 1.00pm on a working day. Certificates sent by post will be insured against loss in transit, will be tracked by Royal Mail, and will have to be signed for when they are delivered.

At the same time, a new ‘silver’ service is also being introduced, which will see applications dealt with within three to five working days, and certificates sent by post will be tracked by Royal Mail and insured against loss in transit.

And the existing service – which sees applications dealt with within three to five working days and cerficates sent by second class post – will continue to be offered, but will be known as the ‘bronze’ service.

Karen Burton, business service manager with Shropshire County Council’s registration service, said: “These changes will see a big improvement to the service we offer. Many local people have asked for a priority ordering service, and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to make this possible.”

Further information

(1) The fees for each service level are:

- Gold service: £7.00 fee for certificate, plus £25.00 expedited service charge; plus £32.00 (per item).
- Silver service: £7.00 fee for certificate, plus £5.50 recorded delivery, including insurance.
- Bronze service: £7.00 fee for certificate.

(2) Copy certificates are produced by the Shropshire registration service’s certificate production unit which looks after nearly 10,000 births, marriages and death registers from throughout Shropshire.

31 March 2008