GRO (Eng & Wales) extends PDF pilot scheme

The General Register Office (GRO) of England and Wales is to extend its 'PDF pilot scheme' until at least July*.

Paper copies cost £9.25 while the pdf copies are £6.

The online-only scheme, which delivers PDF copies of historical birth and death register entries at a reduced price, has seen abot 80,000 applications processed since the pilot started in October last year. Such popularity is hardly surprising given that each PDF costs £6 rather than the regular standard service price for a print copy is £9.25. (For Irish family historians more accustomed to free access to historical bmd records, UK prices come as a bit of a shock!)

Only records from the following periods are included in the scheme:

• Births: 1837–1917
  
• Deaths: 1837–1957

All applications have to include a GRO index reference, and marriage records are not included in the pilot.

*UPDATE, 3 July: The scheme has been extended indefinitely.