Registrar of Births and Deaths¶
The registrar is the local council official who records deaths, marriages, and births in the official register and issues the certified copies most institutions accept as evidence. Registration is done in person at a Register Office for the district where the death occurred, not where the person lived. [source: gov-uk/after-a-death-register-the-death-2026-04-29.html]
The Register Office for any English or Welsh district is listed on gov.uk's find-a-register-office directory. Most run a booking system; appointments typically take around 30 minutes. Walk-in registrations are unusual; phone first. [source: gov-uk/find-a-register-office-2026-04-29.html]
The registrar's job at a death registration is administrative: they take the medical information from the doctor (or, in the current process, the medical examiner) and the personal details from the informant, enter them into the official register, and issue the Certificate for Burial or Cremation and the certified copies that become the death certificates used afterwards. [source: gov-uk/after-a-death-register-the-death-2026-04-29.html]
Last verified: 29 April 2026 against gov.uk/register-a-death.