Birth Certificates in England and Scotland

PeterinScotland

I'm opening savings accounts online for two of my children.

When I lived in Scotland I always understood that the long "Extract of an entry in the Register of Births" was the real Birth Certificate and that the short "Abbreviated Extract of Birth" which you get for free was only useful for certain purposes. However we now have a child born in England's green and pleasant land and the long one is called "Certified Copy of an Entry Pursuant to the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 - Birth" whereas the short free one, printed in red, is called "Certificate of Birth". So does that mean that the free one has higher status in England than in Scotland? I uploaded the long form one for both of my children, but if the short form free one is really the "Birth Certificate" in England, should I be using that for everything here?

Silvertabby

It depends. Some institutes will accept the short version, whereas others will insist on the full one.

peachyprice

No, it's the same as Scotland. The short one will still not be suitable in certain circumstances as some info is missing. Certified Copy means an exact copy of the actual page in the register.

Kim_13

I'm in England and had to get a full one for a passport (this was when I was a child.)

My parents opened a savings account for me before this, so a short one may still be accepted by a bank/building society. Worth checking before paying for the full one.

TonyMMM

There is no "real" certificate - the only original document is the register entry itself which is kept at the register office.

Both the short and the long versions of the certificates are just copies, one contains all the info on the register, one doesn't. Neither is any more valid than the other - just different.

The short certificate is issued free when you register the birth, the full version is charged for (but you can buy as many as you like).

Whether they are accepted for any official purpose is up to the organisations who want to see them. As far as I know, the only official use for the free short certificate these days is to support a child benefit application.

PeterinScotland

It's just strange that they call the short one "Certificate of Birth" in England, which makes it sound like the official Birth Certificate.

TonyMMM

It is an official birth certificate, just a different one.

The reason the full certificate has the heading of "Certified Copy of an Entry Pursuant to the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953" is because the same blank forms are used for birth and death certificates.