Agenda item

(To receive a report by James Chapple, Head of Registration, Celebratory and Coroners Services, which updates the Committee on the service delivered by the Registration and Celebratory Service and outlines the continued impact and disruption the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the service)

10:07am- Councillor A M Key left the meeting for the duration of this item.

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Registration, Celebratory and Coroners Services, which provided an update on Lincolnshire's Registration and Celebratory Service for the previous year.

The Registration and Celebratory Service had faced a difficult and challenging year with the delivery of services being greatly impacted by the pandemic. Government lockdowns, restrictions and social distancing measures had caused significant disruption across the service.

Despite the challenges faced, the service has remained open to the public throughout 2021 and offices continued to operate as Covid secure environments with protective screens and sanitising stations.

Death registration volumes in 2021 were comparable to the numbers registered in 2020 and were expected to rise further as winter approached. Plans were in place to manage the rise and the service was confident that they could meet the demand for an increase in registrations.  

Marriage and civil partnership ceremonies had also been heavily impacted by the restrictions put in place as a result of the pandemic. The easing of restrictions had seen unprecedented levels of demand which was due to further increase as many weddings had been postponed to 2022. Existing staff had worked incredibly hard to meet the needs of the service and the service had also trained over 40 current Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) employees as ceremony Celebrants to provide cover. 

A full review of Lincolnshire's Registration and Celebratory Service was scheduled for 2022, which would look to make the service more accessible and enhance the current customer offer due to the introduction of a newly accessible IT system which would allow the public with the introduction of online appointment bookings, online prepayment for registration services and certificates, and online communications directly from registration service.

Overall, despite a disrupted and challenging year for the registration service, the service had continued to deliver a high level of customer service with registration volumes across all disciplines exceeding that of 2020.

The Executive Councillor for NHS Liaison, Community Engagement, Registration and Coroners recorded her thanks to the officers and all those involved with the registration service for their hard work to keep the service operating in difficult circumstances. The Executive Councillor also thanked those LCC officers who had trained as Celebrants which had made an enormous difference to the level of service able to be provided.

The Committee considered the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

• 6 registration staff had left the service due to retirement and to progress a career in another sector. A number of Celebrants were also on relief contracts and could therefore leave the service on their own terms.
• To train a Registrar in all disciplines would take several months, however Celebrants could be deployed quickly once they had completed a short period of training which included classroom work and shadowing.
• Registrations and marriages/civil ceremonies took place seven days a week. The service operated from 12 sites across the county which could accommodate the increase in demand.
• The new IT system was a tried and tested, leading bespoke service which was used by over 100 Local Authorities across England and Wales.
• The Head of Registration, Celebratory and Coroners Services agreed to investigate whether the service used the County News magazine to highlight the locations of their Registration Offices.
• Despite the introduction of IT services, the Registration Service would remain an accessible service for all and could still be accessed via phone or for walk in services.
• In line with legal requirements, all birth registrations had continued to take place in person during the pandemic.

The Head of Registration, Celebratory and Coroners Services welcomed the proposal for future reports to be scheduled that in future the Committee receive an annual report at the end of the financial year and further updates on a six-monthly basis.

RESOLVED:

1)      That the report be noted;

That updates be on the Head of Registration Celebratory and Coroners Service be received on a six-monthly basis, to include the annual report at the end of the financial year.