Stillbirth - registering

How to register

If a baby is stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy, it needs to be registered.  If the stillbirth was in Bristol you can register at the Register Office at the Old Council House or at our office at Southmead Hospital.  Please ring 0117 922 2800 to make an appointment and ask to speak to a Registrar for births, deaths and marriages.  

You will be given a medical certificate of stillbirth by the midwife or doctor, which you will need to give to the registrar. If no midwife or doctor was present at the time of the stillbirth, you will need to contact your GP.

When you register, you can ask to have a first name entered on the register for a stillborn baby.  You must complete this registration within three months of the stillbirth.

Who can register a stillbirth?

If you are married, either the mother or father can register the stillbirth.

If you are not married, the mother must complete the registration. If you want to have both parents’ names on the registration certificate, then the father will also need to attend.

You will be given a stillbirth certificate and a certificate for burial or cremation (often called a ‘green’ certificate). There is no charge for registering a stillbirth.

Getting copies of stillbirth certificates

If you need a full stillbirth certificate, please ask the registrar at the time of registration and they will supply you with one. The fee for this is £4.

At a later date copies should be bought from the General Register Office. More information is available on the General Register Office website.

Arranging a funeral

Stillborn babies must be buried or cremated. You can choose to organise a funeral yourself, or the hospital where the stillbirth occurred can do it for you. If the stillbirth didn’t happen at hospital, your local hospital can still arrange these details for you. Your midwife will be able to contact them about this.

Detailed information about all the options available to you is available from the SANDS, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society, website.

Advice and support

After a stillbirth women may still be eligible for maternity leave, statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance. More information on this subject is available from the DirectGov website - http://direct.gov.uk/employees

Support for parents and other relatives of stillborn children is available from the SANDS, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society, website.

If you are receiving direct mail from companies selling baby related items you can stop them by registering your details on the Baby Mailing Preference Service website.