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ElizabethHerts
12-10-17, 11:02
General Register Office (GRO) - PDF Extended Pilot

The GRO is piloting a service from 12 October 2017 to provide portable document format (PDF) copies of digitised historical birth and death records. The pilot will run for a minimum of 3 months to enable GRO to assess the demand for this service over a prolonged period.

Applications for each PDF cost £6, must be made online, and include a GRO index reference.

England and Wales records which are available as PDFs in this extended pilot include:

Births: 1837 –1916
Deaths: 1837 –1957

Note: A PDF is not a certificate and has no “evidential” value, and therefore a certificate is required for official purposes, e.g. applying for a passport, driving licence or giving notice of marriage.

Indexes

Have you used our Online Historical Birth and Death Indexes yet? They may include extra information, for example; maiden name or age at death. See Most Customers Want to Know.
Lindsay
12-10-17, 11:09
Thanks Elizabeth - I 've built up a list of death certs and was hoping they'd be running a PDF pilot soon!
James18
12-10-17, 11:28
Oh nice, thanks Liz! :)

Now to find my list of wanted certificates...
Phoenix
12-10-17, 12:29
Thank you, Elizabeth. Number one ordered!
JBee
12-10-17, 15:17
Is there a separate link?
Phoenix
12-10-17, 15:33
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp
Kit
12-10-17, 20:27
Phoenix when you get the PDF please let us know what it looks like.
marquette
12-10-17, 20:41
I have also just ordered a PDF - a death cert. Time stamped 21.45 on 12 Oct, so hopefully they wont be overwhelmed by orders on the first day !

If this works, it will be much quicker than waiting nearly 3 weeks for snail mail to Australia! and cheaper too.

Di
NickiP
13-10-17, 01:12
Phoenix when you get the PDF please let us know what it looks like.

I ordered one last year when they had the initial 3 week trial. They are basically the entry from the register (ie. the "central" part of the certificate, not the full page) with the Registration District, Sub District, Year and County hand written rather than typed on the certificates (probably an edited section of the original register). You get the same information as the certificates.
Kit
13-10-17, 02:46
I ordered one last year when they had the initial 3 week trial. They are basically the entry from the register (ie. the "central" part of the certificate, not the full page) with the Registration District, Sub District, Year and County hand written rather than typed on the certificates (probably an edited section of the original register). You get the same information as the certificates.

Thanks Nicki
marquette
18-10-17, 05:34
I just wanted to say that I have received my first PDF. I thought I would check in my GRO account and see if the VIEW PDF link was there, and it was. It looks exactly like the files I received from the Victorian (Aus) BDM Registrar when I order download copies from there. Perfectly readable and useful for family history.

That means 6 days to receive, rather than nearly a month snail mail, and its quite a bit cheaper. I am VERY happy.

And now, I am also narrowing down the possible date of death for my g-g-g grandfather William Martin (more on that on his thread)

Di
Phoenix
18-10-17, 09:54
I just wanted to say that I have received my first PDF. I thought I would check in my GRO account and see if the VIEW PDF link was there, and it was. It looks exactly like the files I received from the Victorian (Aus) BDM Registrar when I order download copies from there. Perfectly readable and useful for family history.

That means 6 days to receive, rather than nearly a month snail mail, and its quite a bit cheaper. I am VERY happy.

And now, I am also narrowing down the possible date of death for my g-g-g grandfather William Martin (more on that on his thread)

Di

It worries me that my first pdf is there, but I had no email confirmation. Somebody like me needs that reminder.
JBee
18-10-17, 14:38
I thought it came by email.

So where do I look please?
Phoenix
18-10-17, 14:42
Log in, and choose "View a recent order"
ElizabethHerts
18-10-17, 14:45
I didn't get an e-mail either. I had to log in, then enter the order number. I could then see that the PDF was waiting for me to download.
Phoenix
18-10-17, 14:52
If you can't remember order number, a date range will also find it.
JBee
18-10-17, 15:53
Thank you

Just looked and its there - 2 days - ordered Monday arrived Wednesdsay


update
email arrived today Thursday.
ElizabethHerts
19-10-17, 08:49
I have now received an e-mail to say my PDF is ready. I downloaded it yesterday!
Phoenix
19-10-17, 09:37
I have now received an e-mail to say my PDF is ready. I downloaded it yesterday!

Ditto. Only three days after it was despatched.
Frankly, all gov. emails seem erratic, going out ages after I've expected them.
JayG
18-01-18, 17:06
The pilot will now run for a minimum of 9 months.

From the GRO website

PDF Extended Pilot

The GRO has been piloting a service from 12 October 2017 to provide portable document format (PDF) copies of digitised historical birth and death records. The pilot will now run for a minimum of 9 months.
Olde Crone
18-01-18, 18:57
That is good news but I wonder why they are not making it a permanent service?

OC
Kit
19-01-18, 02:21
I'm guessing that they are looking at making it permanent but if interest declines after the initial interest they can get rid of it and say it was only a trial.