Consultation on the future provision of the Registration Service

South Gloucestershire Council is currently reviewing the way we provide registration services for births, deaths and marriages.

We are looking at ways to provide a service in a much more flexible and responsive way to meet customer needs and increase the speed of registrations at a time of key life events. We also need to ensure that our services provide the best value for money in today’s economic climate.

We are seeking your views on where our registration services are based.

The implementation of any changes is likely to take place from
1 December 2012.

We welcome your views on the proposals outlined in the following pages.

The consultation on these proposals runs from 25 June 2012 for a six week period ending 3 August 2012.

The current registration service


The Registration Service currently offers pre-booked appointments across four locations:

Location                         Days                                           Hours

Frenchay                           Tuesday - Friday                   9.30am - 1pm  and  1.45pm - 3.45pm
Kingswood                       Tuesday and Thursday        9.30am - 1pm  and  1.45pm - 3.45pm
Thornbury                         Monday                                   2pm - 4pm
Yate                                    Wednesday and Friday        9.a0pm - 1pm  and  1.45 - 3.45

The current arrangements give a spread of registration appointments across the district.  

However, the availability of appointments in each location is limited. As a result we are sometimes unable to provide appointments in a preferred location or as quickly as we would like. It also means that lunchtime opening is not possible as each location only has one member of staff.

What is being proposed


We are proposing to bring all our Registration Services together at two locations:  

Frenchay - This site provides a valuable joined up service with the hospital.  We work in partnership with the bereavement office who books appointments for customers and deals with the necessary paperwork. This facilitates the prompt registration of deaths which is critical to allow funeral arrangements to proceed.  

Take up of appointments at Frenchay is higher than the other three locations.

One other location - The second location is likely to be either Thornbury or Kingswood. The final decision will be based on our need to meet the strict requirements of the General Registrars Office, particularly around the accommodation we have to provide for old registers, and the council’s accommodation strategy.

Bringing staff together in this second location would allow us to give a much more flexible and responsive service and will reduce the time it takes to get a registration appointment. It would allow us to provide drop in appointments in addition to the existing number of pre-booked appointments. It would also mean that we could open in line with the council’s standard opening hours, including lunchtime appointments.  

Consultation on the future provision of the Registration Service

About you

Please answer the following optional questions about yourself. We actively seek to ensure that our work meets the needs of each and every community and individual. It is therefore important that we understand the views of all individuals in all communities The information you supply will help us to analyse the results of this consultation and to ensure that we understand the views of different people. It is only by asking you these questions that we can be confident we are meeting the needs of all.  

Responses to these questions will remain confidential. Individuals will not be identified and personal details will not be published.