Genealogy Chat

Flick - I agree wholeheartedly. (9:19 post)

And, just because the GRO in Eire does this it does not automatically mean we should too. The set up over here is completely different.

Inspector Green Pen,

The System is no different over here.

It was introduced over here in 1864 when Ireland was part of the UK.

Morning all,
i really liked the sound of this topic at the start,thought i would add to,now it sounds defensive & domineering....there is no harm in defending your corner...but come on peep's lighten up.....

Well said Cane

thank you Gina....i just wasnt likeing what i was hearing.Ok some may have thought that my comment was a little bit naughty,but some were taking it quite lierally....lighten the tone!...after all were all on here doing the same thing

By "Set Up" I was referring to the manner in which the GRO is operated not the principles of registration.

Since the 1 April 2008 GRO for England and Wales has been part of the Home Office Identity and Passport Service which was formed in 2006.

The entire service is self funding and does not rely on subsidy from the taxpayer. It is run as though it were an independent company with the government & taxpayer effectively the equity shareholders.

A load of jargon in my eyes,...the original topic was quite friendly,and needed only light hearted comment's....Not the crown court to deal with..
No offence.....Gwen,

Gwen,

The problems with petitions such as this is that they are all very well intentioned until you start to think them through.

Given the current structure of the GRO, and the fact that any changes would cost considerable amounts of taxpayer money for little if any benefit to the public at large, then it is a non-starter.

By all means sign the petition if you want, but don't expect anything to happen.

i am confident that nothing will happen, and i wont be starting a suffragette march over it,....but there is no harm in binging it to peoples attention...hey and who knows " we might win the battle".....just by not being too political...

"Their are already web sites for uploading unwanted certs,"

Do you know the names of any of these sites? Have done a search but not found anything like that.

The site mentioned is bmdshare - but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment.

Just had a quick google these are the first two that came up

http://bmd-cert-exch-site.ourwardfamily.com/

http://www.certificate-exchange.co.uk/

from certificate-exchange

http://www.certificate-exchange.co.uk/unwanted-birth-certificates.php

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?board=153


Roy

Thanks, will take a look.

And if you google

unwanted bmd certificates

their are others designed for more local certs

eg http://www.liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/Help/certs.htm

Roy

The Australians are falling about laughing!!!
Whilst each State is different one example goes like this.

Our BDM certs from our "GRO" in New South Wales cost $39 each or discounted if you buy on line to $30.

That equates to 19.50GBP or 26 GBP per certificate.

I use a transcription agent who supplies the same certificates for around $18 each. Less if you require only a partial transcription. That is about 11.50 GBP.

Your 9.25 GBP equates to $14 in Australian currency.
Which means my transcription certs are more expensive than your certs.

Just a thought - if a cert is ordered online then why cannot the resulting cert be returned to sender online to print off as required? Yes we still order and pay in the same way but the cost savings would come from paper, envelopes and postage.

Would this be a better petition?

That is what the petition is asking for BettyLou.

This is what is says:
"Under current legislation, the GRO can only "release this information by means of the issue of a paper certified copy Cert of the relevant entry, and payment of the relevant statutory fee for a certified copy." We request that this House enacts legislation to allow the General Register Office of England and Wales the ability to issue "uncertified" research copies of birth, marriage and death certs - with a notice on the copies that they are uncertified, and have no legal authority - and that these may be obtained at a much lower cost than the current £9.25 per cert (eg £2) when ordered on-line and the GRO Index Ref is Provided, and that these may be issued in a electronic (email) format or a plain paper in the same way as The Rep of Ireland; this would enable family historians to buy many certs for their research at a lower cost" In the Republic of Ireland you can ask for an uncertified copy from Roscommon (their version of GRO) for €4."

Which is why it isn't going to happen....!

The House IS NOT going to enact any legislation, at a cost of several millions of taxpayers money for a handful of genealogists.

The £2 fee suggestion is also laughable. The fully costed price of producing a cert is £9.50 . The marginal cost i.e. staff and consumables only is around half this. £2 would require subsidy.

It's not even going to get the required number to be considered. It has taken 3 weeks to get 1907 signatures. Only needs another 98,093 signatures with less than 49 weeks to go. And that is just to get the possibility of it being discussed.

It was worth a try