Birth Registration

The birth of a child is a big event in all families. It brings with it new responsibilities, changed priorities, and a big change in the family routine.

One thing which is very important is the need to register the birth. You should not feel rushed, you have 21 days in which to choose a name and register the event with the registrar.

The following information mayhelp:

Where can the birth be registered?

A birth that takes place in Scotland can be registered at any Registration Office within Scotland. Clackmannanshire Registrars, based in Alloa, will be delighted to register your new arrival. You can either phone for an appointment or just call into the Registration Office during opening hours to register your baby. The registration process will take approximately 15 minutes.

Who can register the birth?

If the new baby's parents are married to each other at the time of registration, then either parent may register the birth.

If the baby's parents are not married, it is the mother who must attend to register the birth. However, if the father's name is to be included on the registration documents, then both mother and father would be required to attend the Registrar's Office together at the time of registration.

Note: A mother of a child is automatically given parental responsibilities and parental rights to the child unless otherwise dictated by a Court Order. With effect from 4th May 2006 where unmarried parents of a child attend jointly at the Registrars to register the birth, the father will also automatically be given parental responsibilities and parental rights to the child. If you wish further clarification, please contact the office on the number detailed below.

Whatever the decision, we look forward to welcoming you into the Alloa office to register the birth. You may wish to telephone in advance for an appointment. Please see our contact details below.

What should be taken to the Registrar's Office?

Mothers should receive an envelope or card confirming the baby's sex, date of birth and time of birth from the hospital where the birth took place, or from the midwife who attended the birth. This should be brought to the Registration Office to ensure the correct details are recorded. If you do not have this please contact the Registrar.

It is also very helpful, but not essential, for parents to bring their own birth certificates (and marriage certificate if applicable) with them when they call to register their baby's birth.

Please read the information leaflet(s) contained in the envelope you receive from the hospital before coming to register the birth.

The registration of a new family member is an important event. The birth certificate will be presented to you in a protective wallet to help mark the occasion.

Tell Us Once

If you've just had a baby we can help you tell the people who need to know.

When you have a new baby, there are lots of things that need to be done. One of these things is contacting the government departments and local council services that need to be told about the birth. Until now, you had to contact all of them individually.

We're providing a free service which can help you give the information to the Department for Work and Pensions.
If you want they can then pass this information on to a number of other organisations.

How the service can help you

You often have to contact several government departments and parts of the local council to give them the same information about the birth. It's important that you do this as soon as possible as it may affect your entitlements, such as Child Benefit, Working Tax Credits or Child Tax Credits.

We want to make this easier for you, so if you want to use the service after registering the birth we will ask you some simple questions. This means that you won't have to send a copy of the birth certificate in the post as we will contact the organisations that need to know on your behalf.

Using this service can, where certain conditions are met, help to speed up an application for Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit with HMRC if you are receiving benefits that relate to your income (for example Income Support, or some types of Jobseekers Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance).

How you can contact us to use the service

When you call to register the birth you will automatically be offered the service immediately after registration.You may wish to phone in advance, please see our contact details below.

What happens to the information?

The following organisations can be contacted if you ask us to:

Department for Work and Pensions - Jobcentre Plus
Housing Benefit Office
Council Tax Benefit Office
Council House Lettings Team
Library Services
Children's Services (Family Information Services)
Child Benefit
Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit

We can also help by returning your completed Child Benefit Claim Form to HMRC. If you would like us to do this please bring your completed Child Benefit Claim Form with you. You will not have to send your baby's birth certificate to HMRC if you choose to use this service.

Information you will need to use this service

It will help if you have the following information with you, when you use the service:

A completed claim form for Child Benefit (if you are making a claim)
The parent/s named on the birth register's National Insurance number/s and/or date of birth, address and telephone number.
Details of any benefits the parent/s named on the birth register are receiving / have applied for
The partner of the mother named on the birth register, (if they live in the same household) including their National Insurance number and/or date of birth and information about any benefits they may be receiving.

You will need to get the permission from these people to tell us about them before you use the service.

How we will treat the information you give us

The information you give will be treated securely and confidentially. The organisations who are contacted will use the information to update benefits, credits or help to start up services. They may use this information in other ways, but only as the law allows.

Privacy

This service is committed to ensuring your information is protected.

Our privacy statement tells you how the information you provide when you use this service will be used and protected. Ask the Registrar if you wish to see the full privacy statement.

Please remember that it is your responsibility to ensure that all organisations, that pay you a benefit/credit or provide a service to you, have correct and up to date information about you.

More information

The Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Annual Statistical Review contains detailed information and statistics for Clackmannanshire, including the most popular names in Clackmannanshire. The report can be downloaded by following the link in the Publications and documents section below.