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Registrars privacy notice

This privacy notice explains how we process and protect your data when you give it to our registrars service.

Last updated: April 2026

What this notice is about 

The Islington Register Office registers births, deaths, marriages, and civil partnerships for Islington and the City of London.  This privacy notice explains how the information we collect about you is used and your rights in relation to that information. 

You should also read our main privacy notice, which gives more details about your rights and how to contact us.  

Who is collecting your data 

The superintendent registrar is a data controller for birth, marriage and death registrations and can be contacted at Islington Register Office Town Hall Upper Street N1 2UD. 

The local authority is a data controller for civil partnership registrations and can be contacted at Registration Services, Town Hall, Upper Street, London, N1 2UD. 

The Registrar General for England and Wales is a joint data controller for birth, marriage, death and civil partnership registrations and can be contacted at the General Register Office, Trafalgar Road, Southport, PR8 2HH. 

What information we collect, hold and use 

Personal information will be collected from you if you make an application to register a birth, death, marriage, or civil partnership.  This will include:   

  • names of people involved and the notifier’s name  
  • addresses and contact details  
  • nationality  
  • date of birth/death/marriage/civil partnership   
  • location of event  
  • service registered for  
  • marital/civil partnership status where relevant  
  • gender.

The special category (sensitive) data we process will include:  

  • sexuality where this is obvious or can be inferred from the parties’ gender for marriage/civil partnership.   

We also process criminal offence data as follows:  

  • where the circumstances of a registration indicate that an offence may have been committed.

Where we get your information from 

We get information from: 

  • you provide it to us directly. 

Certain information is required by law when you register a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership. If you don’t give us the information the law asks for (or if you give false information), you could be committing an offence. This means you might have to pay a fine, and we would not be able to complete the registration or provide the service you need (for example, we couldn’t issue a marriage certificate). 

How we use this information 

We use this information to: 

  • perform our general duties for the registration of births, deaths, marriages, and civil partnerships  
  • provide certificates to those who request them 
  • undertake the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences relating to registration  
  • for the general purposes of crime prevention and public safety. 

Our legal reasons for processing (using) your data 

Under UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA 2025) we use your data because: 

  • it’s our legal obligation (the law says we must) (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(c)) 
  • we are doing something in the public interest or as part of our official duties (public task) (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e)). 

For special category (sensitive) data, such as information about your sexuality, we rely on: 

  • Article 9(2)(g) – substantial public interest (specifically, this processing is necessary for us to carry out our statutory duties under the registration laws, as per DPA 2018 Schedule 1, Part 2, paragraph 6) 
  • Article 9(2)(j) – research and statistics (we may use registration data for statistical purposes in the public interest, with safeguards such as anonymising personal data in any published research).

Where we handle information about criminal offences (for example, suspected fraud in a registration), this is done under the law enforcement provisions of the DPA 2018, and only by the Registrar or authorities with the legal power to investigate such offences. 

Other laws that apply to our services 

We follow these laws: 

  • Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 
  • Marriage Act 1949 
  • Civil Partnership Act 2004 

Who we share your information with 

We may share your information with: 

  • other members of the public

A copy of any register entry will be provided by this office in accordance with the law to any applicant, provided they supply enough information to identify the entry concerned and pay the appropriate fee. The copy may only be issued in the form of a paper certified copy (a “certificate”). An application for a certificate may also be made to the General Register Office.  

Indexes for events registered at this office are publicly available in order to help members of the public identify the registration record they might need. Indexes are available in paper format. 

A copy of the information collected by a registration officer will also be sent to the Registrar General for England and Wales so that a central record of all registrations can be maintained.  

We may also share your information with other organisations for the following lawful reasons: 

  • statistical or research purposes  
  • administrative purposes by official bodies e.g. ensuring their records are up-to-date in order to provide services to the public 
  • fraud prevention or detection 
  • immigration and passport purposes.

These organisations may include: 

  • the Electoral Registration Officer 
  • the police 
  • the Home Office 
  • other councils. 

Further information on the personal data held, and the categories of personal data, by the registration service as well as a full list of the organisations with whom registration data is shared, the purpose and the lawful basis for sharing the data can be found in the privacy notice annex (doc). Alternatively, staff at this office will be able to provide the information.

How we store your data

The information you provide will be held and processed by registration officers for this registration district. We carefully protect your data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction. We also ensure that appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place to protect your data.  

We keep registration information indefinitely, as the law requires.  

Any other personal information will only be kept for as long as we need to in order to fulfil the purpose(s) for which it was collected and then it will be deleted in line with our retention schedule.   For more information please check our main privacy notice and retention schedule. 

Your individual rights 

You have a number of rights under data protection law – such as to see the data we hold about you. For more details see our main privacy notice and the page about your individual rights.  

Complaints 

If you are unhappy with how we use your data please see the council’s main privacy notice to find out how to contact our Data Protection Officer and make a complaint. 

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Data protection: We will handle your personal information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998 and in accordance with the council’s Fair Processing Notice.