Registration Service update

Essex Registration Service is open, but on a restricted basis.

We’re currently only offering telephone appointments for death and stillbirth registrations.

We are deferring all appointments for:

Under Government restrictions, ceremonies cannot take place.

If you have a ceremony or a birth or notice appointment booked in the next 4 weeks, we will be contacting you to discuss this.

Please see our coronavirus update page for the latest information before calling.

Register a stillbirth

When to register a stillbirth

If your baby was born after the 24th week of pregnancy but did not breathe or show any signs of life, you will need to register a stillbirth.

This gives parents an opportunity to have their child officially acknowledged and have their name recorded.

This has to happen before you’re able to have a burial or cremation for your baby.

If your baby was born before 24 weeks and showed no signs of life, this is legally classed as a miscarriage, and you do not need to register it.

If your baby showed signs of life after birth and then died you will need to register this as a birth and a death within five days.