A certified copy certificate is an exact copy of an original entry in a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership register. These can be used for any official or legal purposes.
If the event occurred outside of our district you will need to apply to the relevant Register Office or General Register Office who can supply certified copy certificates on any event that occurred within England and Wales. For Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland contact their own website. For overseas, you will need to contact the relevant embassy in the U.K. Alternatively, the Overseas Registration Department at the General Register Office can contact the embassy on your behalf. Another alternative is to contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who may be able to help. A fee is charged.
You will also find The Citizens Advice website is useful for additional information.
Before applying to us for a certified copy certificate we would recommend that you contact us beforehand to check that we do have the entry in one of our registers.
How to apply to us for a certified copy certificate
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Online - select relevant application sub heading and complete the online form. Once received, we will confirm whether we have the entry in one of our registers by email, giving you payment options. We cannot accept an on line payment
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By telephone - you will need to supply card details for payment
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By post - select relevant application sub heading to download either a PDF or 'Word' form for completion. Payment will need to be enclosed - cheque or postal order made payable to Wokingham Borough Council. No cash please.
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Come to the door - please note that we may not be able to supply the certificate right away if we are busy. You therefore may need to wait for a little while. Telephoning beforehand is recommended.
Information required
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Reference number given by us if checked beforehand the entry is in one of our registers. Please note that any other reference number given to you from another source, i.e. General Register, only applies to that company. Each Register Office has their own referencing system
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Full name of person to whom the certificate relates - Both people's names at time of ceremony if a marriage or civil partnership certificate
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If a church wedding, name of church and parish
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Date of event
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Parent's names if for a full birth certificate - not essential but good as a cross reference
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Deceased's date of birth if for a death certificate - not essential but good as a cross reference
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Applicant's name, address and contact details
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Your relationship to the person to whom the certificate relates
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Purpose for which the certificate is required
Cost
If you are unable to supply sufficient information to enable us to locate the record, then we can conduct a manual search for a fee of £18.00. This will not guarantee we will find the entry you are looking for and the fee of £10.00 will also be required for the issue of the certificate if we are successful. You will be notified before a long search is made.
Payment can be made by cheque - made payable to Wokingham Borough Council - or debit/credit card. (American Express cards are not accepted). Payment by cash can be made if done in person.
Please note that a surcharge of 1.75% of the transaction will be levied for credit card payments.
Certificates for marriages in churches
A church register is handed over to the Register Office only once it has been completed. In some cases this may happen a few years after the event. If this is the case with your application we will be able to confirm this and provide contact details for you to apply directly to the church office.
Free Public Access for Research
Indexes to all register entries for England and Wales as well as the Adopted Children Register, Civil Partnerships and events which have been registered overseas are now available at:
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The British Library
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Birmingham Central Library
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Bridgend Reference and Information Library
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City of Westminster Archives Centre
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Greater Manchester County Record Office
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The London Metropolitan Archives
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Plymouth Central Library
All indexes are in microfiche format.
