Cost of marriage, birth and death certificates to triple to £11 each

FAMILIES in England and Wales who experience a death or birth and couples who've just got married will now have to shell out nearly TRIPLE the price to register these events.

From tomorrow, the cost of registering deaths, births and marriages at your local office will rise from £4 a pop to £11 - a whopping 175 per cent increase.

Some local offices have been charging differing rates until now but the Home Office says the new fees will bring them all into line.

If you don't request multiple certificates at registration or you lose your certificates and need new copies at a later date you'll also pay more.

The cost of this service, which is provided by the General Register Office rather than a local registry office, is also rising from £9.25 to £11 for standard delivery and from £23.40 to £35 for priority service.

That's a £1.75 or 19 per cent increase for standard delivery and a £11.60 or a 50 per cent hike for priority delivery.

The Government stresses that the new fees, which haven't risen in nine years, reflect the rising cost of providing these services.

But what's worse is that many will end up shelling out for these fees time and time again.

That's because when someone dies, you often need to send proof of this to financial and home services providers, and they usually won't accept photocopies.

The same goes for when you get married and change your name - you'll need evidence to show providers that you are who you say you are and that often means original marriage certificates.

So in reality, people could be shelling out hundreds more.

Say you request 10 certificates when registering a death at your local office, that'll cost you £110 in total from tomorrow compared to £40 now.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The changes to the civil registration certificate fees are the first increase since 2010.

“The fees are set at cost recovery levels only, and registration officers have power to waive or reduce fees on grounds of compassion or hardship.”

Registering births, deaths and marriages and obtaining certificates is different in Scotland and Northern Ireland. See Northern Ireland Direct and National Records of Scotland for more information.