Federation Of Family History Societies

GRO Index Update

GRO (General Register Office) digitisation plans appear to have stalled.

In the August edition of Ancestors magazine published by The National Archives (TNA) it is reported that 'The digitisation of Britain's most important set of national family history records…has hit the buffers…and there is currently no timetable to restart the project.'

The report states that the main contractor for the project, Siemens IT Solutions and Services Ltd, has pulled out. With parts of the project named DOVE, MAGPIE and EAGLE it is tempting to think of the whole planning exercise as having been bird brained.

James Hall, the new Registrar General and Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), is expecting an emergency internal strategic review to report its findings by the end of September.

This latest development only adds to the frustration caused by the withdrawal of the old ledgers from the Family Records Centre before any suitable alternative was available. There is a statutory requirement for public access to a complete set of the indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths. It appears that the GRO is going to rely on its provision of microfiche copies to fulfil this obligation for the foreseeable future. Sets are available at Greater Manchester County Record Office, Birmingham Central Library, Bridgend Reference and Information Library, Plymouth Central Library, and City of Westminster Archives Centre as well as The National Archives.

The information available at each of these centres will include births, deaths and marriages from 1837 to 2006, adoptions from 1927 to 2007, civil partnerships from 2005 to 2007, overseas registrations from 1761 to 2006 and the provisional indexes for births and deaths for 2007. During the course of 2008 and 2009 each of these sites will receive updates and replacements. Other sites which have previously purchased sets of microfiche are being denied the ability to purchase updates.

Users at The National Archives in Kew have free access to the digitised births, marriages and deaths indexes through findmypast.co.uk, the UK family history website. This is being provided under an initial one-year agreement and it is to be hoped that it will continue until the GRO can provide a valid replacement.

3 July 2008
Roger Lewry
Archives Liaison Officer