Marriage and Civil Status (Forms, Registration and Fees) (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Order 2008.

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

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demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
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A decision made (26/02/2009) regarding: Marriage and Civil Status (Forms, Registration and Fees) (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Order 2008.

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2009-0018
Decision Summary Title :	Fees Order		Date of Decision Summary:	20 February 2009
Decision Summary Author:	Superintendent Registrar		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title :	M & CS (Forms, Regulations & Fees) (Amendment No 3 ) (J) Order		Date of Written Report:	19 February 2009
Written Report Author:	Superintendent Registrar		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	public
Subject: Marriage and Civil Status (Forms, Registration and Fees) (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Order 2008
Decision(s): The Minister approved the making of the order to increase the fee for a certificate of birth, marriage or death from £10 to £20 and for the addition of a fee for the re-registration of a child’s surname under Schedule 2A of the Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001 and decided that the Law Draftsman should be instructed accordingly.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001 was amended in July 2008 by the insertion of Article 59(a) whereby parents may register or re-register the birth of their children with a surname of their choosing. The fee of £50 for the re-registration of the surname was suggested in the Financial and Manpower statement for the amendment as a means of recouping the costs of implementing the amended law. The cost of a copy of a certificate has not been increased since 2002. The two fees are intended to help to recoup the costs of administering the law in the Parish of St Helier where over 1000 births are registered a year. The above inflation fee increase had been approved by the Minister for Treasury and Resources.
Resource Implications: There are no resource implications to the HA Department resulting from this decision.
Action required: Home Affairs’ Executive Office to notify the Law Draftsman of the requirement to prepare a draft Order for subsequent approval.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Marriage and Civil Status (Forms, Registration and Fees) (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Order 2008.

Home Affairs Department
Subject:	Marriage and Civil Status (Forms, Regulations and Fees) (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Order 2001.
Exempt Clause:	N/A	Date:	19 February 2009

Author:	Sue Groves, Superintendent Registrar, Home Affairs

Report for Minister

The States approved an amendment (Amendment No.2) to the Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001 in July 2008 whereby parents may choose the surname of their child when registering or re-registering its birth by the introduction of Article 59(a). The amendment was introduced as a response to representations from members of the public concerning the previous legal position regarding the naming of illegitimate children. Before its introduction, an illegitimate child had to be given its mother’s maiden surname by law. The articles of the Law relating to the registration and re-registration of birth are Article 51, 52, 55, 56 and 57; the introduction of Article 59A enabled parents to choose the name to be registered as the child’s surname under any of these articles.

Under Schedule 2A (Article 59A(5)), the amendment also introduced a new right for parents to re-register the surname of a child who is not of full age and whose birth was first registered before Article 59A came into force. The work of the parish registrars, most especially in St Helier, will be significantly increased by the implementation of this schedule and it is intended that the fees identified below should enable the parish to meet the costs of the work.

All births are registered in the parish in which the birth occurs. In 2007, 1097 of the 1104 births in the Island occurred in the parish of St Helier. The overwhelming majority of registrations, birth, marriages and deaths, occur in St Helier (2007: 527 of the 707 deaths and 270 of the 586 marriages were in St Helier). Thus the St Helier parish ratepayer bears the brunt of the cost of what is effectively an Island-wide service and correspondingly the St Helier registrars bear the brunt of the work.

Conscious that the demand on his registrars is very high, the Connétable of St Helier has been pressing for some years for an increase in the cost of a certificate from the current £10 (established in 2002) to £20, as a means of resourcing the additional staff to help to meet the demand. This increase has been approved by the Treasury Minister (see Decision no. of 2 February 2009).

This increased fee and the charge of a £50 fee for the re-registration of a child’s surname under Schedule 2A, introduced by this amendment, has the support of the Comité des Connétables who recognise that the registrars of St Helier bear the burden of registration for the Island. These fees are seen as the only means of recouping the costs of implementing the amended law which, it is recognised, will significantly increase the work load and the costs of the registrars of St Helier. It is proposed that a temporary part-time member of staff be taken on in the first instance and the need reviewed after the first six months, when it is expected the really hard impact of the amendment will have lessened to a more steady flow.