New Parents Urged To Register Births

Parents who had their babies during lockdown are being encouraged to come forward and register their births as soon as possible.

Over 100 new families whose children were born between February and June, under the care of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital have not yet obtained a birth certificate.

Not registering a child could cause problems in the future. These could include when opening a bank account, applying for a passport or registering with a school.

Jillian Fill, Registration and coroners manager said:

“There is a legal requirement for births to be registered within 42 days of birth. However, due to lockdown, registration services were temporarily put on hold.”

“To ensure new parents did not miss out on any funding they were entitled to, the government put a temporary process in place. That allowed access to child benefit without the need to register the birth first.”

“Unfortunately this seems to have given the impression that registrations are not needed. This is not the case. I would urge any parents who have not yet registered their baby’s birth since February to do so now.”

“Our teams are working extremely hard to make contact with these families. But with limited contact details from hospital records, this is proving a difficult task.

“If you have had a baby under Hull Women and Children’s care, regardless of whether you live in Hull, you must register their birth with Hull Register Office as soon as you can.”

Register Births Online Or In Customer Service Centres

Registration appointments can be made by visiting www.hull.gov.uk/regbirth. They are also are available at various children centres and customer service centres across the city.

Locations vary from week to week in order to offer a variety of locations to meet demand and prevent the need to travel into the city centre. 

Parents are asked not to bring a baby or other children unless they have to do so.

If parents are married, only one parent needs to attend. However if not, both parents must attend to allow the father’s name to be recorded on the birth certificate.