Ordering certificates from scotlandspeople

When you have found the record you were looking for you will usually see 2 options. View 5 credits or Order.

You don't need to order a certificate, just download it for 5 credits. The certificate won't give you any more information anti will cost you £12. The downloaded image at 5 credits is £1.50.

 You only need to get a certificate if you need it for legal purposes or if the other option is not available, eg a modern record a 1918 birth record. This is because it is too recent. There's a 100 year cut off for births. However if you can bear to wait till next January, you will be able to download it then!

Your other option is to visit one of the scotlandspeople hubs where for a day you can look up as many certificates as you like for £15.

The hubs are in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kilmarnock and Inverness.

Register House in Edinburgh

The Mitchell Library in Glasgow

Burns Centre, Kilmarnock

Highland Archive and Registration Centre, Inverness
Hawick Heritage Hub
Clackmannanshire Family History Centre in Alloa

Always phone first to check computer availability and opening hours.

Where to find Scottish records

If you have Scottish ancestors, you are fortunate in that the records provide lots of information.

The online resource for Scottish vital records is scotlandspeople.gov.uk  (SP)

SP is the only place to see the original birth, marriage death (BDM) and census records for Scotland
- other than going in person to the Scottish Records Office SRO in Edinburgh, the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, or the Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock (£15 per day plus any photocopying)

Sites like Ancestry and Findmypast only have transcriptions (someone's interpretation of the handwriting) which are often quite badly done as regards spelling. It is good practice to look at the original. I find Ancestry and Findmypast very useful for censuses and tracking the family over the years. More on censuses here.

First you need to register with scotlandspeople. 

You can do searches for free, but to view or download a record it costs 6 credits (£1.50). Credits are purchased in multiples of 30 for £7.

Don’t “order” a certificate unless you need it for legal purposes or it is a modern record. They cost £12 each and are typed rather than images of the original handwritten document. 

An RCE (Register of Corrected Entries) may give more info e.g. on a sudden death or a later paternity case for an illegitimate birth.

Updated December 2018.