Register a birth
HO Register a birth alpha service assessment report
Register a birth
| Assessment date | 01/07/2026 |
| Assessment stage | Alpha |
| Assessment type | Assessment |
| Service provider | Home Office |
| Result | Green |
Service description
This service aims to solve the problem of citizens (informants) being able to digitally register births in England and Wales. Currently there is no digital service, resulting in informants being required to attend their local registry office. The digital service will sit alongside registration at Registrar locations across 175 districts. Registrations are started by informants and then fed to the relevant Registrar for their district to process.
Service users
This service is for
- Informants (citizens)
- Registrars
- General Register Office staff
Things the service team has done well:
- The team have provided strong examples of great collaboration, stakeholder empowerment, working in the open, and iterating based on user needs.
- The team have designed the service to effectively use the established Digital Registration Service (DRS) platform.
- The team conducted almost 60 research sessions, building a strong and inclusive evidence base that has resulted in high confidence across most core user groups and registration scenarios.
- The team provided a textbook answer to agile ways of working, e.g. sprint planning, prioritisation, reviews and retros. They also seemed to be on top of their documentation, knowledge transfer, visibility and transparency of artefacts. It was great to hear that UCD is involved in the sign off process of Jira tickets and they are involved in prioritisation of features. Another great example of best practice was that the team had identified common service patterns between the different register services (e.g. Register a marriage, civil partnership, death) as any reuse of patterns could save them time and effort.
- The team had managed to develop and iterate the service design multiple times over the course of 3 months – which was very impressive! When the team were asked about being empowered to make changes, they gave examples of how user research indicated that they need to take a different approach to the service delivery. It was great to hear that the GRO team and policy colleagues are informed/consulted on a regular basis.
- The team were very clear on what success looks like for this service. They mentioned data quality, data availability, better user experience and a streamlined end-to-end service. When we touched on digital update, they explained that the higher the digital uptake the better, but they understand the need for users to continue using the as-is service.
1. Understand users and their needs
Decision
The service was rated green for point 1 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- the team should prioritise strengthening confidence in user groups where evidence is currently limited. These include users with low digital confidence, trans and non-binary users, Welsh-speaking users, users without photo ID or proof of address and those experiencing complex family circumstances. The team should also continue to explore less common, higher-risk registration scenarios to ensure these journeys are fully understood and supported.
- the team should also undertake further research to understand how users become aware of the service, including the role of healthcare professionals, local authorities and other trusted sources. This will help identify opportunities for service design and communication interventions that could improve awareness (and increase uptake).
- continue accessibility testing across visual, cognitive and motor impairments. This should now include testing with users of assistive technologies (such as screen readers). Undertake further research with users who may require support to complete the journey. This will help reduce remaining risks and increase confidence that the service is usable for all users.
2. Solve a whole problem for users
Decision
The service was rated green for point 2 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- start folding-in the additional, risky-sounding use cases – IVF, parental death before birth etc – as soon as possible in the beta phase to ensure you have time to explore them fully.
3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels
Decision
The service was rated green for point 3 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- use the beta phase to develop a detailed plan for how informants will be made aware of the digital service.
4. Make the service simple to use
Decision
The service was rated green for point 4 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- use the beta phase to ensure all content is supported by evidence (and consider asking DHSC and the NHS whether they have any relevant research they can share). Sex and gender are contentious topics, so the presence of content that does not have fully evidenced user needs carries a risk of reputational damage. The page ‘Part 1 of 4: Child’s details: Sex’ includes hint text referencing ‘gender identity’ and a details component with the link text ‘Intersex child registration’. ‘Gender identity’ is a much-misunderstood term - and a contested concept - which would, in any case, not apply to a newborn child, and its inclusion here could cause more confusion than clarity. The informant only needs to record exactly what they are told by the hospital, so it is unclear why hint text is required. Avoiding upsetting trans informants was mentioned, but no evidence was presented to support this being a user need. ‘Intersex’ is not a term widely used by medical professionals, who instead refer to ‘differences of sexual development’ (DSD). Between 0.02% and 0.05% of children are born with ambiguous genitalia, and, in reference to DSDs, the NHS website says, ‘In England you need to register your baby’s birth within 42 days. This is usually enough time to complete the tests, discuss the results with your child’s care team and identify your baby’s sex.’ - so the need for this content is also unclear.
5. Make sure everyone can use the service
Decision
The service was rated green for point 5 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- in the beta phase make sure to fully integrate accessibility into user research and design on both the informant and registrar sides of the service.
6. Have a multidisciplinary team
Decision
The service was rated green for point 6 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- although the team has ensured that one of the objectives of the Statement of Work (SoW) is to ensure knowledge transfer and upskilling of permanent members of staff, the delivery of this project is currently very dependent on the supplier. The team has done their best to document everything, ensure that the artefacts are saved on the HO’s SharePoint site. Having said that, this is a very complex project and it will need to be iterated post public beta. This is an advisory note to those managing the SoW that there is continuity in the team structure until the live stages to ensure the full roadmap is delivered.
7. Use agile ways of working
Decision
The service was rated green for point 7 of the Standard.
8. Iterate and improve frequently
Decision
The service was rated green for point 8 of the Standard.
9. Create a secure service which protects users’ privacy
Decision
The service was rated green for point 9 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- the service is unable to retrieve NHS numbers directly from NHS England and is dependent on these being provided by the Office for National Statistics. The team should ensure that this process is secure until an alternative method can be provided by NHS England.
10. Define what success looks like and publish performance data
Decision
The service was rated green for point 10 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- during the beta phase, it’d be good to have insight into how many journeys started and were completed vs paused. Which paged users tend to drop off etc. During the public beta phase, continue to review user feedback via performance surveys, ideally monthly.
11. Choose the right tools and technology
Decision
The service was rated green for point 11 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- the service uses a commercial product for checking address details and the team should investigate using Ordnance Survey products instead.
12. Make new source code open
Decision
The service was rated green for point 12 of the Standard.
13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns
Decision
The service was rated green for point 13 of the Standard.
14. Operate a reliable service
Decision
The service was rated green for point 14 of the Standard.
Next Steps
This service can now move into a private beta phase, subject to getting spend approval. The service must meet the standard at beta assessment before launching public beta.
To get the service ready to launch on GOV.UK the team needs to:
-
work with the GOV.UK content team on any changes required to GOV.UK content