The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the information on a short birth certificate. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains about the information recorded on a short birth certificate and says it is a compiled copy not a true copy. He wants the Council to send him a corrected version and to pay for the postage.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided Mr X. This includes the complaint correspondence and information from the Council’s website. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.
My assessment
The short certificate only states the name, gender, date of birth and place of registration. It is not usually accepted for official purposes. The long certificate provides more information. The Council issues both certificates for a standard fee of £11. There is a priority service which is more expensive.
The law does not require a short certificate to say it is certified.
Mr X paid for a long and short certificate. The long certificate provides the name of the registrar that recorded the birth and states it is a certified copy. The short certificate provides the name, gender, date of birth and place of registration. It has been signed by the registrar to certify that the details have been compiled from the register.
Mr X does not accept the short certificate is a certified copy because it does not give the name of registrar when the birth was registered and it does not say it is a certified copy. He says he paid for a copy of the short certificate, not a compiled copy. He asked the Council to amend the short certificate so it is a copy and not a compilation. He wants the Council to pay for the postage if he returns the short certificate. He says he was misled and has not received the copy he paid for.
The Council explained that both certificates are certified, and both contain the information stated on the website. The Council said it cannot amend the wording and there is nothing else it can send. It said it would send a second copy of the long certificate, without charge, if he returned the short certificate. The Council said Mr X would need to cover the cost of postage to return it.
I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence off fault by the Council. There is no requirement for the Council to use the same wording on both certificates and the short certificate has been signed by the registrar as having been complied from the register. Mr X may disagree with the format and wording but that does not mean the Council has done anything wrong. The short certificate contains the information stated on the website and has been certified as being correct.
I also will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. Short certificates are rarely used and there is no evidence the current wording has had a negative impact. Mr X wants a copy of the short certificate, as opposed to a compilation, for sentimental reasons. However, while I acknowledge his views, this does not represent an injustice requiring an investigation.
Further, Mr X has a copy of the long certificate which he can use for official purposes and the Council has offered to provide a second long certificate which contains the wording which is acceptable to him. I appreciate Mr X does not want to pay for postage but, even using recorded delivery, the cost would be less than £3 and this is not a level of injustice that warrants an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman