Cumbria County Council : Registration Service : Other Services : Obtaining a copy of a certificate

How to obtain a copy of a Birth, Death, Marriage and Civil Partnerships certificate

Copies of birth, death, marriage or Civil Partnership certificates can be obtained if required. Records are kept at the Register Office where the event was first registered and it is here that applications should be made.

Copy certificates are available at a cost of £7.00 each (including historic records).
You can pay for copies by cash, a cheque (made out to: CUMBRIA COUNTY COUNCIL), credit/debit card or postal order.

Please Note: From the 1st April 2007 all copy certificates that are posted to customers and/or paid for by a credit/debit card will require an additional administration charge £0.50p per certificate (i.e. £7.50 each).
This is to cover increasing administration and credit/debit card processing costs.

The three ways to obtain a copy certificate: in person, by telephone or by postal request.

Copy Certificates (required for legal purposes, such as passport applications):

Telephone requests: We aim to send by post (second class) within 5 working days of receipt. Payment by debit/credit card.

By post: By sending a letter with the your name, address, contact no. and the payment, giving full details of the certificate(s) required (or see the link below to print out an application form). We aim to send by post (second class) within 5 working days of receipt. If a SAE with a first class stamp is enclosed they may receive the document sooner.

In person at the offices: You can visit the appropriate register offices, within opening hours, and request copies. We will supply any certificate(s) either by post or for your collection within 5 working days.

Historic Copy Certificates (required for family history & Genealogy):

Telephone requests: We will take requests over the phone, with payment taken by credit/debit card. Certificates will be dispatched within 10 working days.

By post: By sending a letter with the your name, address and contact no., giving full details of the certificate(s) required (or see the link below to print out an application form). We aim to send by post (second class) within 10 working days of receipt. If a SAE with a first class stamp is enclosed they may receive the document sooner.

In person at the offices: A member of the public can leave a request and payment at any of the offices, and the certificate(s) will be sent as soon as possible, despatched within 10 working days.

For all family history & genealogy requests please note that customers must:

a). Provide a separate cheque for each certificate, to avoid any delay should there be any problem locating any one of the copies if several are requested.

b). Provide where possible provide the exact date of the event as will help us find more quickly the certificate you require.

c). In some cases the minimum of the year and quarter may be given, but this will slow down any search and may delay the any certificates issued.

If you are unsure about how to obtain a copy certificate, please contact your local office for further information.

Please Note: Although we will do our best to provide requested copy certificates within the above quoted time scales, in occasional circumstances there may be delays due to increased demand (at present there is a higher than usual demand for all types of copies, especially family history and genealogy), operational issues/workload and other statutory/ceremonial duties at the time of application. We will process your application as soon as we possible can, but cannot accept any liability for certificate issue made outside the above stated time scales.