The Home Office has brought sections 61 to 65 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, which change how births and deaths registers are kept, into force on 9 November.
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 10) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/1167, were made on 4 November under section 142(1) of the Act. They were signed by Jo White, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Home Office.
The instrument does not commence provisions on data protection duties. It is confined to registration, and is classed under births, deaths and marriages.
Regulation 2(1) brings into force, so far as not already in force, section 61(1) and (2), section 62, section 63, section 64, and section 65 with Schedule 3. Regulation 2(2) brings section 61(3) into force at 12.01am on the same day.
Section 61(1) and (2) substitute a new section 25 into the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, which concerns the form in which registers are to be kept, according to the explanatory note.
Section 61(3) omits sections 26 to 28 of the 1953 Act. It commences one minute later so that the enabling power in section 26 is preserved.
That sequencing allows the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Regulations 2026 to take effect on 9 November and revoke regulation 71 (quarterly returns) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987 (SI 1987/2088), which prescribes forms under section 26.
Section 62 inserts section 11A into the Registration Service Act 1953. It sets out local authorities’ obligations to provide and maintain equipment or facilities that the Registrar General reasonably considers necessary for the offices of the superintendent registrar and the registrar.
Section 63, on requirements to sign the register, is commenced so far as it is not already in force. It is already in force to the extent provided by section 142(2)(h) of the 2025 Act.
Section 64 deals with existing registers and records. It covers births and deaths registers held by superintendent registrars and the Registrar General before the repeal of section 28 of the 1953 Act, and unfilled hard copy registers.
It also confers powers on the Registrar General to dispose of certified copies held. Existing electronic copies of births and deaths registers kept between 1 July 2009 and the day before the Regulations come into force are to be treated as the register.
Section 65 introduces Schedule 3, which makes minor and consequential amendments to the 1953 Act and other legislation.
These are the tenth commencement regulations under the 2025 Act. Part 1 came into force on 20 August 2025 under SI 2025/904, and Part 2 partly on 1 December 2025 under SI 2025/1213.
Regulations in 2026 have brought other provisions into force, including on 30 September under SI 2026/1015, which commenced the remaining part of section 117 and sections 118 and 119.
No impact assessment was prepared for this instrument. The Home Office said a full assessment was published for the provisions in the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which was introduced to Parliament on 23 October 2024. The supporting documents record that the Regulatory Policy Committee rated those impact assessments as fit-for-purpose.
The official PDF of the instrument sets out the full commencement table for earlier regulations.