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Certificate prices to rise 32%
The General Register Office has announced that the standard price for birth, marriage, and death certificates ordered via its website is to increase by 32% from £7 to £9.25 on April 6th. I suspect that it isn't a coincidence that this announcement was made the day after Who Do You Think You Are? Live, Britain's largest family history show finished at London's Olympia exhibition halls. Had it been made earlier it would have been a hot topic of conversation, and I'm sure that the many celebrities present would have condemned the move.
According to the announcement the increase is to ensure that they cover their costs. However, I find it hard to believe that they don't make a thumping great profit even at £7 a certificate, especially considering that they sell around 2 million a year. How much can it possibly cost to print an A4 sheet of paper, fold it in half, and put it in an envelope?
Fortunately there is no need to conjecture, because in 2008 somebody very perspicaciously wrote to the GRO and used the Freedom of Information Act to get the answers - you can see the response here. Looking though the numbers it's hard to come up with a cost of more than £2 a certificate, including printing, labour, postage, and envelopes. No doubt they will claim that there are all sorts of other expenses which aren't listed, but my suspicion is that they are asking us to pay for their failed digitisation projects, DoVE and MAGPIE, which were abandoned a couple of years ago.
I have taken two steps to protect the interests of LostCousins members and other family historians with ancestors from England or Wales. My first step was to submit a Freedom of Information request requiring them to explain how they reconcile the planned price increase with the costs quoted in 2008, and asking whether they have considered adopting the same solution that the General Register Office of Scotland chose when setting up the Scotlandspeople site (where it is possible to get the same information online instantly - and for just £1.20).
My second step has been to contact Dominic Grieve, the shadow Justice Secretary and Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, since - if the opinion polls are correct - it's likely that before long they'll be the ones who make decisions relating to most of the matters that affect LostCousins members, including the price of certificates. Will they pledge to reverse this unjustified price hike? We'll have to wait and see....
Written by Peter Calver
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