How do I correct a mistake on a birth certificate?

What can be corrected on a birth certificate?#

Anything that was wrong at the moment the birth was registered. GOV.UK's example is a parent's occupation recorded by mistake, and the General Register Office's notes add a parent's place of birth, an address and mistakes in names. What cannot be corrected is anything that became untrue later: GOV.UK says a correction cannot show new information after circumstances change, giving the example of a parent who changes their name on marrying again.

Section 29 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 forbids any alteration to a birth register except as an Act allows, and says an error of fact or substance is corrected by an entry in the margin, "without any alteration of the original entry".

A correction, or a change of name?#

The test is whether the details were wrong when they were given. Anything else is a change, with its own route:

A later change of name never goes on an English or Welsh certificate, and it does not need to: changing the name on a birth certificate explains why.

Who can apply for a correction?#

The mother, and the father or second female parent if their details are on the certificate. Where the correction is to a child's name and both parents are named, both must sign. If neither parent is available, the General Register Office says the person named on the certificate may be able to apply for themselves, which is how an adult corrects an old mistake in their own entry.

What evidence do I need?#

Documents from the time of the birth showing what the details should have been. The GRO asks for documents valid or dated around the date of birth, and GOV.UK gives examples: a passport, a photocard driving licence, a bank, building society or credit card statement, a letter from a hospital or doctor, or a letter from a government department. Without evidence that an error was made, GOV.UK says, a correction usually cannot be made.

For a name, HM Passport Office's guidance sets out the test its staff explain when asked: a correction may be possible only with evidence that, when the birth was registered, the child was already using a different name from the one recorded, or has been known by a different name from birth or shortly afterwards. A name settled on years later does not pass that test.

Send certified photocopies, not originals or photographs. The person certifying must not be related to you, be in a relationship with you or live at your address. If you take the application to a register office and pay in person, it can certify the copies itself and hand back your originals.

For a serious mistake, such as a name, the GRO may also ask for a statutory declaration about the error, on a form it provides, made before a solicitor, a magistrate or someone else legally qualified to take one, who may charge. The Act's own rule is a declaration by two qualified informants, such as the parents, or failing them by two credible people who know the true facts.

How much does it cost?#

£83 if the register office can authorise the correction itself, and £99 if it must go to the General Register Office, which is where mistakes involving names usually go. The register office decides which applies when it checks your application, so ask it how to pay before sending anything. Either fee is paid when you apply and is not refunded if the correction is refused. A new certificate is extra, at £12.50 each, and a statutory declaration may carry its own fee.

Both amounts are set by the Fees Regulations, and the fee increases of 6 April 2026 left them unchanged.

How long does it take?#

A register office correcting an entry itself sets its own timescale. For one sent to the General Register Office, the GRO aims to send its authority within 25 working days if there are no problems; each further exchange can take up to 25 working days more.

What does a corrected birth certificate look like?#

The original entry is never erased. The register keeps the details as they were first given, and a note in the margin explains what the correct information is and when the correction was made. Every full certificate issued afterwards carries that note, so the old and the corrected details appear together. GOV.UK says a short certificate, which shows only the child's details, carries no note and simply shows the corrected details.

The General Register Office brought in an electronic register of births on 9 November 2026 and revised its correction form and notes the same day. The notes still describe a note in the margin, and section 29 still requires the original entry to be left as it was.

Check the entry before the registration is finished#

The easiest correction is the one made before the entry is complete. The regulations require the registrar to ask whoever registers the birth to verify the details once they are entered, and on the electronic register a slip noticed at that point is simply retyped: the government's note to the 2026 regulations says such corrections will not be visible in the final entry.

Do I need to correct it before getting a passport?#

No. HM Passport Office's guidance tells its staff not to ask customers to correct a birth certificate to support a passport application. If the name on your certificate, or your child's, is wrong, the passport office asks instead for evidence of the change of name, such as a deed poll, and evidence that the name is used for all purposes. If a correction has been made, the passport can be issued in the name given in the margin note. Apply direct, on GOV.UK or at a Post Office; changing your name with HM Passport Office lists the documents that show a name in use.

Scotland and Northern Ireland#

Scotland. National Records of Scotland can correct information found to have been wrong when the event was registered, given enough evidence, and records amendments in its Register of Corrections; it cannot correct something that changed afterwards. You ask through its contact form, and its pages give no fee. Under section 42 of the 1965 Act a registrar can fix a slip made in copying the details given, and other errors need the Registrar General's authority, with an appeal to the sheriff if it is refused.

Northern Ireland. You ask the General Register Office for Northern Ireland on its amendment form, GRO 229, sent or taken to GRONI. nidirect says a correction may be made by a note in the margin showing the right details, and gives no fee. It also warns that a finished registration is not easily changed.