London Borough of Hackney Menu Coronavirus Vaccination and testing information and other help and support Home Births, deaths and marriages Births Births 5 min read If your child was born in Hackney, they must be registered here, regardless of where you lived at the time of the birth. On this page: Register a birth Register a stillbirth Re-registering a birth Copies of birth certificates Changing a child’s forenames on a birth certificate Correcting an error on a birth certificate Fees and charges Document legalisation Register a birth Who can register a birth? Book an appointment if your baby was born in Hackney You can book an appointment if your baby was born at Homerton University Hospital or at a home address within the borough. Certificates cost £11 and must be paid for in advance by credit or debit card, as we can’t take any payment at the appointment. The free short certificate is no longer issued at the time of registration. Book an appointment to register a birth If your baby was born at home and you do not live in Hackney, we cannot register the birth of your baby. This applies even if you were transferred to Homerton Hospital after giving birth or are under the care of Homerton’s midwifery team. You should contact the register office in the district the birth took place to book an appointment with them. What to bring to the appointment It’s advised that you bring at least 2 of the following documents: passport driving licence birth certificate marriage or civil partnership certificate proof of address (for example, a council tax bill or a utility bill) mother’s discharge papers (‘Maternal Delivery Transfer Summary’ is printed in the top left-hand corner) baby’s red book if you don’t have the mother’s discharge papers deed poll (if the parent has ever changed their name) If your baby was born outside of Hackney Registering a birth after 12 months Registering a stillbirth Stillbirths need to be registered within 42 days. You need to make an appointment to register a stillbirth. Re-registering a birth It may be possible to re-register a birth: to add the father’s details following a marriage or civil partnership of natural parents to add a second female parent Apply to re-register a birth to add father's details or following a marriage or civil partnership of natural parents What happens if one parent is absent from the appointment? Apply to re-register a birth to add a second female parent Copies of birth certificates Births from 1 January 1975 You can order a certificate for a birth that happened in Hackney from us. Certificates are charged at a statutory fee of £11 each for standard certificates and £35 each for express order certificates, plus postage fees. Please note any certificate order will take 5 working days to complete plus postage time. We are currently unable to offer an express service – if you do require your certificate urgently we recommend you order directly from the General Register Office using their priority service by using the link on this page. If for any reason we cannot produce your requested certificate, we will process a partial refund instead. Order a copy certificate Births on or before 31 December 1974 You’ll need to order the certificate from the General Register Office. Please note that we have no access or association to any orders placed directly with the General Register Office. Please contact them directly to follow up an order. Order a certificate from the General Register Office Refunds Changing a child’s forenames on a birth certificate A child’s forenames (first and middle names) can be changed up to one year from the date the child was originally registered. amendments cost £40 new certificates cost £11 There are 2 different ways that this can be done. 1. Following a change within the first 12 months but not through baptism 2. Following a change after being baptised within the first 12 months The change to the child’s forename(s) will be made on the birth entry and will show on any certificates issued from that point on. The child’s new name will be shown in the bottom box of the birth certificate (space 17). The child’s name that they were originally given at the time of registration will always still appear in space 2. Correcting an error on a birth certificate You can apply to correct a birth registration: when the information recorded is wrong – eg if there is a mistake in the spelling of a parent’s name You can’t apply for a correction: to show new information if circumstances change after you’ve registered your child’s birth – eg if you’ve changed address How much does it cost to correct an error? How are corrections made? Apply to correct an error Fees and charges births fees and charges Document legalisation You can get certain official UK documents legalised by asking the Legalisation Office to confirm that the signature, stamp or seal is from a UK public official. How to get your documents legalised. Page updated on: 24 November 2021 Registration Services Address Hackney Service Centre 1 Hillman Street E8 1DY Telephone 020 8356 3355 Email General enquiries registrars@hackney.gov.uk Ceremonies ceremonies@hackney.gov.uk Opening times Mon to Fri, 9am - 4.30pm Emergency out of hours death service: Sat and Sun, 9am - 11am, bank holidays (excluding Christmas Day), 9am - 11am Apply for Freedom Pass Apply for Blue Badge Ask for council tax discount Send us benefits evidence Pay or view rent payments Report a benefits change Find out about universal credit Register a birth Register a death Parking fines (PCNs) Resident parking permits Pay your council tax Find support services Reserve and renew library items Jobs and careers Report noise Visitor vouchers Household bin collections One Account sign in Payments News Email alerts Help Contact us Accessibility Privacy statement Terms of use twitter facebook youtube instagram All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated We use cookies to ensure you have the best experience. For full details see our privacy statement. Accept and close How would you rate this page? 1 2 3 4 5 Bad Good Next