Melton birth and marriage registrations postponed until February

Leicestershire County Council has taken a decision to suspend such in-person appointments until the end of January, in order to protect the health of staff and customers during the current lockdown.

Face-to-face interactions are being curtailed at registration offices across the county, including the one at Melton’s Parkside site, although deaths can still be registered by telephone.

Mr Blake Pain CC, cabinet member for regulatory services, said: “Protecting the health and wellbeing of our staff and customers is our top priority, which is why we have taken the decision to suspend some activity at the county’s registration offices until the end of January.

“This has been a tough decision to make as we are aware that it may cause some inconvenience and distress to a number of people that may wish to attend the offices in person, but we also need to help to prevent the spread of infection, particularly at this point in time, by reducing face-to-face contacts as much as possible.”

Birth registrations will be deferred unless there are exceptional, emergency or urgent reasons.

Marriages and civil partnership ceremonies are not allowed unless there are exceptional or urgent circumstance, such as terminal illness.

The service will contact those couples whose ceremonies are due to take place after the current lockdown ends to discuss their appointment.

In terms of death registrations, the doctor or hospital will send the death certificate to the Leicestershire Registration Service, and a member of the team will call the bereaved person to make a telephone appointment and register the death.

Go to www.leicestershire.gov.uk/sites/default/files/field/pdf/2020/4/8/Registering-a-Death-During-Pandemic.pdf for more information on this.

The suspension of these registration services across Leicestershire will be reviewed at the beginning of February.