The Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 were made on 22 June 2026, laid before Parliament on 24 June 2026 and will come into force on 9 November 2026. The instrument applies in England and Wales and was made under sections 38A(1) and 39A(1)(a) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953. The immediate point is narrow but important for register services. This instrument does not change the level of any fee. Instead, it amends the wording in Schedule 1 to the 2016 Fees Regulations so that the legal description of certain services, and the person to whom payment is made, fits the registration system now being put in place.
The main drafting changes sit in rows 16A and 17A of the fees table. References to the registrar or superintendent registrar having, or the person having, "custody of the register" are removed. In row 17A, the service description is also recast so that the fee is linked to the person "who effects the correction" rather than the official with custody of the register. The payment route is now tied to the date of the original entry. If the entry in the register was made before 1 July 2009, the fee is payable to the superintendent registrar. If the entry was made on or after 1 July 2009, the fee is payable to the superintendent registrar or the registrar. That distinction is central to the amendment and reflects the different treatment of older and newer records.
Rows 20 and 21 are also updated. In each case, the word "kept" is replaced with "issued" in the service description. This does not create a new service or a new charge, but it does bring the wording closer to how certificates and related documents are handled in practice. The explanatory note published with the instrument states that birth, still-birth and death records are currently held both electronically and in paper form. In that setting, the older concept of an official having custody of the register has remained in the fee rules. Once an electronic register becomes the statutory model, that terminology is no longer a good fit.
The policy driver is the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. According to the explanatory note, that Act introduces the electronic register for the registration of births, still-births and deaths. The 2026 Regulations are therefore a supporting amendment, ensuring that the fees framework matches the wider statutory change. This is the kind of secondary legislation that often follows a larger digital reform. When the legal basis for a public service moves away from paper records, connected provisions on fees, corrections and certificates usually need to be rewritten as well. Otherwise, front-line services can be left operating under language that no longer describes the system accurately.
For local register offices, the effect is chiefly administrative and legal rather than financial. Staff will continue to charge the existing fees, but the Regulations will give a clearer basis for who may receive payment and who is treated as carrying out the relevant correction or issuing function once the new framework is in force. For the public, the main message is that this instrument is not a fee rise. The more noticeable changes are likely to appear in guidance, forms and office procedures, particularly where older entries made before 1 July 2009 continue to be handled differently from later records.
The instrument was signed by Mike Tapp, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, on 22 June 2026. No separate impact assessment has been prepared for this statutory instrument. The explanatory note states that a full impact assessment was already published for the relevant provisions of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Taken as a whole, the amendment is limited in scope but clear in purpose. From 9 November 2026, the fee rules in England and Wales will use language that better reflects an electronic registration system, while leaving the underlying fee levels unchanged.