Summary: Mr X complains the Council recorded his former name alongside his current name on his child’s birth certificate. Mr X says the Council acted outside of the law by adding his former name. The Council has acknowledged there was fault in the advice it provided when recording the birth. It has agreed to apologise and re-register the birth with Mr X’s current name only.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council recorded his former name alongside his current name on his child’s birth registration certificate. He says he changed his former name to escape an abusive father and the Council persuaded his wife to add his former name to the birth certificate. He says this caused him distress. Mr X says the Council acted outside of the law by adding his former name, as he says the law says it should only record his name at the time of the birth.
2. Mr X also complains that by recording his former name the Council has breached his personal data.

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What I have investigated

3. I have investigated the Council’s actions in how it recorded Mr X’s former name during his child’s birth registration. The part of the complaint I did not investigate is detailed later in this statement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
6. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I read Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I spoke to Mr X on the telephone and made enquiries of the Council. I also examined relevant law and guidance.
8. I invited Mr X and the Council to comment on the draft decision and considered any comments made in response.

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What I found

9. Part 3, Regulation 9, Subsection 4 of the Births and Deaths Regulations 1987 details what information should be recorded about the father when registering a child’s birth.
10. It says a father’s name and surname should be recorded. The Regulation also makes provision for how to record a father’s name where it has changed from the time of the child’s birth and the birth registration, or if the father is deceased.

The Council’s website

11. The Council details what information is required to register a birth on its website. In relation to a child’s father, it says it will need their forename and surname, date and place of birth and their current or last known occupation.
12. The website says that due to Covid-19 measures, only one parent should attend if they are married.

What Happened

13. Mr X said he previously changed his name to escape an abusive father. In July 2020, he said his wife attended the Council’s offices to register the birth of their child. Mr X said that due to Covid-19 restrictions, only one person was allowed to register the birth.
14. Mr X said that when his wife was registering the birth, she was pressured into adding his former name in addition to his current name on the birth certificate. He said his wife tried to call Mr X to ask him about it when she was with the Registrar, but he was unreachable. Mr X said his wife told him the Registrar said she should add his former name as their child may wish to look up their ancestors one day.
15. When Mr X received the birth certificate, he complained to the Council that it had not acted within the law by adding his formerly known as name. He said he explained the reasons why he had changed his name and the distress it had caused him by having his former name on his child’s birth certificate. He asked the Council to change the birth certificate and apologise to him.
16. The Council responded that its officer asked Mr X’s wife whether Mr X had been known by any former names and advised that this could be included in the birth registration if his wife wished it to be.
17. The Council said it was satisfied that in doing so the officer followed the correct procedure. It said there is no requirement for the formally known as name to be recorded in the register and Mr X’s former name would not have been entered had his wife had not chosen to include it. It also said in Mr X’s letter of complaint, he stated that the Registrar persuaded his wife to include the former name. The Council said the Registrar’s role is to record the particulars supplied by the informant and not to provide advice on other matters. It partially upheld his complaint.
18. The Council said it had discussed the matter with the General Register Office (GRO) who suggested that a correction could be made through a non-statutory re-registration. It said this would provide Mr X with a new certificate, but the original entry would remain in the Council’s records and be annotated so that it would no longer be referred to.
19. Mr X said he responded to the Council that he was happy for the non-statutory re-registration to take place. He also said he did not agree that the complaint was only partially upheld as his view was that the officer had not acted within the law when recording his details at the birth registration. Mr X said he subsequently paid for a new birth certificate to be issued, but the certificate still had his previous name on.

The Council’s response to the Ombudsman’s enquiries

20. In response to my enquiries, the Council said it has spoken with the Registrar in question who disputed Mr X’s claim that his wife had been pressurised into including his former name in the birth registration. It said the Registrar did explain that they had offered advice to Mr X’s wife that his former name could be included and that it may be helpful. The Council accepted it was not the Registrar’s role to provide advice that the inclusion of a formerly known as name may be helpful.
21. I also asked the Council to explain the basis on which it can record a formerly known as name in a birth registration. In response it said “Sections B2-27 to B2-28 of the Registrars’ Handbook offers guidance to registrars where the father has changed his name or surname at any stage and B2-28(c) provides instructions to follow for including a ‘formerly known as name’. The handbook states ‘Where the father's name at the time of the birth is different from the name in which he married or formed a civil partnership with the mother (or, if they are not married or in a civil partnership), where it is different from that shown in his birth entry the registrar may, if the informant wishes, enter the name and surname used at the time of the birth followed by the words "formerly known as", then the name used at the marriage/civil partnership, or in his birth entry, as appropriate.”
22. The Council said it acted promptly when Mr X complained and advised him a complex clerical correction could be made through a non-statutory re-registration. It said that due to the circumstances it would waive the statutory fees. The Council said Mr X did reply to say he was happy with this remedy, but he has not completed an application form it sent him via email. It said that once the application is received, the Council will forward it to the GRO to be authorised. It will then invite Mr X to attend the Council’s office to complete a re-registration.
23. The Council also provided the Ombudsman with a copy of the email it sent to Mr X inviting him to complete the application form. Mr X said he did not receive the email.
24. In response to the draft decision, the Council said it held a team meeting with its registrars in November 2021 and ensured they understood they should not be advising informants on whether a formerly known as name should be included.

Analysis

25. The Council has acknowledged it is at fault for providing advice to Mr X’s wife when it was not its role to do so. The restrictions in place due to Covid-19 meant Mr X was not able to be at the birth registration to state his wishes. Whilst the law does not require him to be there, the fact he could not attend had an impact on what happened as he was unable to object. The recording of Mr X’s former name on his child’s birth certificate has caused him distress due to the circumstances which led to him changing his name.
26. The Council has offered a remedy to provide a non-statutory re-registration of Mr X’s child’s birth free of charge. Mr X responded to this offer and accepted the remedy but said the subsequent email from the Council asking him to complete an application form was never received. Presently the remedy has not been carried out.
27. Mr X has raised an issue about the legality of the Council recording his former name during his child’s birth registration. The Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987, detailed earlier in this statement, specifies what information should be recorded in respect of a child’s father. Whilst there is no provision listed in the Regulations for recording a formerly known as name in Mr X’s circumstances, the Registrar’s Handbook does contain such a provision. The Registrar’s Handbook is produced by the GRO, who is a body outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, and it is the responsibility of the GRO to ensure the advice it provides to councils complies with the relevant law.

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Agreed action

28. To remedy the injustice caused by the Council’s fault detailed in this statement, the Council has agreed to take the following action within one month of a final decision.

• Apologise to Mr X for providing advice about adding his former name to his child’s birth registration.
• Write to Mr X again and ask him to complete the birth re-registration application form. Once Mr X returns the form the Council should process it free of charge in line with its original offer.
• Share this decision with the GRO so it can consider whether it needs to review the information contained in its Registrar’s Handbook.

29. Evidence of having completed the above remedies should be sent to the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

30. I close this investigation with a finding of fault against the Council for the reasons mentioned in this statement. I have set out recommendations that the Council has agreed to take to remedy the injustice caused.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

31. I did not investigate the complaint that the Council’s actions in recording Mr X’s former name on his child’s birth certificate was a breach of his personal data. Complaints of this type should be made to the Information Commissioners Office and I can see no good reasons for the Ombudsman to investigate this matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman