Registering births, deaths and marriages in Wakefield: Delays as service disrupted by Covid and government changes

People registering births, deaths and marriages in Wakefield are facing delays because of disruption to the system.
Wakefield Town Hall, where the district's registration service is based.Wakefield Town Hall, where the district's registration service is based.
Wakefield Town Hall, where the district's registration service is based.

Wakefield Council said the postponement of weddings and the failure of a nationwide electronic system after government changes to the law had hit the service.

As a result, staff have had to work significant amounts of overtime and record events manually to keep the service going.

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The government introduced a change to the way marriages were recorded on May 4, which they said would "modernise" the system and make it simpler and more efficient.

However, a report by senior Wakefield councillor Michelle Collins said the performance of the online registration system since then had suffered, leading to additional pressures on the service.

Speaking at a full council meeting on Wednesday, Coun Collins said: "I want to say a big 'thank you' to our registrar team.

"At the moment they're under significant pressure managing the impact of Covid on weddings.

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"Since the legislative changes were made there's been a really poor performance within the online registration system, so they've had to go back and record things manually.

"The team are doing their absolute best to provide an excellent service at what is a really difficult time."

Local Democracy Reporting Service