You need to register a birth with us in person within 42 days of the baby being born. This is a legal requirement.
From 9 November 2026, birth registrations will be recorded electronically. You will still need to attend an appointment with a registrar, but you will no longer sign a paper register.
Who can register the birth
See: GOV.UK - Who can register a birth
Where to register
You should register the birth at the register office for where the baby was born.
You can check which council covers the area where the baby was born (GOV.UK).
If the baby was born in Hounslow, you need to book an appointment to register the birth at Hounslow Register Office. The address is:
Hounslow Register Office
Feltham Lodge
38-40 Harlington Road West
Feltham
TW14 0JJ
Hounslow Register Office on Google Maps.
You can usually book an appointment between the following times, depending on availability:
- Weekdays: 9am to 4.30pm
- Saturdays: 10am to 2pm
Book an appointment to register a birth
If you already have an appointment and need to change it, you can reschedule your registration appointment online
What you'll need for your appointment
From 9 November 2026, you will need to provide proof of your identity when you register or re-register a birth.
You must bring either:
- one document from List A
- two documents from List B
Physical document:
- Current passport, or a passport that expired no more than 18 months before the date of registration
- UK travel document
- UK refugee travel document
- UK stateless person's travel document
- UK driving licence (full or provisional, photocard only)
- UK birth certificate
- UK adoption certificate
- Driving licence issued by an EU Member State
- National identity card issued by an EU Member State
Physical or digital document:
- UK biometric immigration document
- PASS card (Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
Physical document:
- Marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate
- Police warrant card or Armed Forces identity card
- Signed firearms certificate
- Proof of Royal Mail redirection
Physical or digital document:
- Utility bill (excluding mobile phone bills)
- Council Tax statement
- Bank or building society statement
- Credit card statement
- State benefit, pension or tax credit entitlement letter issued by DWP or HMRC
- P45 or P60
- Letter from a government agency
- Letter from the NHS
- HMRC notification
- Document issued by the person's local authority
- Proof of receipt of State Pension
- School or college letter (for young people aged 16 to 19)
It is also helpful to bring:
- marriage/ Civil Partnership Certificate, if relevant
- proof of your address
- documents showing a change of name
- if marriage or in a civil partnership, your spouse’s, or civil partnership’ passport or other evidence of their name
If English is not your first language, a friend or relative can come with you. You must register the birth yourself.
What we will need to know
When registering the birth, you will need to tell us:
- place and date of the birth
- name, surname and sex of the baby
- parents’ names, surnames and address
- places and dates of parents’ birth
- date of parents’ marriage or civil partnership
- parents’ jobs
- mother’s maiden surname
You might not need to give all of this information, depending on who is registering the birth.
Birth certificates
Birth certificates cost £12.50. You need to have at least one birth certificate, which you pay for when you book your appointment.
For additional birth certificates, you can either:
- pay for them when you book your appointment
- buy them when your register
- order them later (see: Order a birth certificate)
Errors on a birth certificate
When you register the birth, you must carefully check the details you provided to the registrar. It’s important that the information is accurate before the registration is completed.
You are responsible for ensuring that all details are correct, including spellings.
This means that anything that needs to be corrected will need to go through a formal process and be considered by either our register office or the General Register Office.
This will cost a fee of either £83 or £99, depending on the correction needed.
You will also need to pay for new birth certificates showing the corrected information. The correct information will show as a marginal note at the bottom of the entry.
Changing the child's name
A child’s first or middle names can be changed or middle names added within 12 months of the birth registration.
The fee to change a name is £44.
