Registrars' Service Delivery

Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire

The Registrars department at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has a long history of excellent customer service and your views are important to help us further improve the service that we provide.

If you have used one of our services, we are keen to hear your views on the service you received. Whether this was for a happy occasion such as a marriage ceremony or the registration of a birth, or a sadder occasion such as the registration of a death of a loved one. Your views are important to us so that we can understand what we are doing well, and what we can improve on.

We would therefore be extremely grateful if you were able to take a minute to complete our short survey. All responses are anonymous and will be used solely for the purpose of improving our customer service.

Complete the survey

Our Service Delivery Agreement

The Registration Service Delivery Plan encourages good practice and outlines our commitment to the service delivery standards contained in the Code of Practice for Local Registration Authorities in England and Wales. This code of practice is complemented by a good practice guide which provides information on specific national standards we must meet, together with aspirational standards.

The details are contained in our Registration Service Delivery Plan:

Our Performance

Our performance against six key performance indicators, published in our Registration Service Delivery Plan, is shown below. Owing to pandemic, our performance standards were lower than usual.

Good Practice Guide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

  1. Events accurately registered within statutory timeframe

    i) National Standard: 98% of births and still-births registered within 42 days
    Our Performance: 98% of births and 100% of still-births
    ii) National Standard: 90% of non-coronial deaths registered within 5 days
    Our Performance: 83%
    iii) National Standard: Declare percentage of coronial deaths (excluding post mortem and inquest cases) registered within 5 days
    Our Performance: 19%
    iv) National Standard: Declare percentage of deaths after post mortem (excluding inquest cases) registered within 7 days
    Our Performance: 5%
    v) National Standard: Declare percentage of deaths registered within 24 hours of receipt of coroner’s certificate after inquest
    Our Performance: 99%

  2. Average waiting times

    i) National Standard: 95% of customers able to obtain an appointment to register a birth or birth declaration within 5 working days
    Our Performance: 100%
    ii) National Standard: 95% of customers able to obtain an appointment to register a death or still-birth, including declarations, within 2 working days
    Our Performance: Deaths 100% and still-births 100%
    iii) National Standard: 95% of customers able to obtain an appointment to give notice within 10 working days
    Our Performance: 100%
    iv) National Standard: 90% of customers with an appointment were seen within 10 minutes of their appointment time
    Our Performance: 95%

  3. Issue certificates from deposited registers

    i) National Standard: 95% of certificate applications from deposited registers to be dealt with within 7 days of receipt
    Our Performance: 99%

  4. Citizenship Certificates

    i) National Standard: 100% of notifications for Citizenship certificates dated correctly and sent to the Home Office within 14 days of the ceremony
    Our Performance: 100%

  5. Offer facility for forms of declaration for birth, still-birth and deaths

    i) National Standard: 95% of incoming declarations registered within 24 hours of receipt
    Our Performance: 100%

  6. Customer satisfaction

    i) National Standard: 95% of customers satisfied with our service
    Our Performance: 99%
    In 2022-23 the Kensington and Chelsea Registration Service received 4 complaints and 525 written instances of praise.

You Commented, We Listened, The Result 

You Commented We Listened The Result
You told us that you would like to see improvements in the content and hospitality arrangements of our citizenship ceremonies

We reintroduced refreshments and refocussed our citizenship ceremony on the celebratory nature of becoming a British citizen with less focus on administrative practicalities

Customer feedback following the citizenship ceremonies improved considerably
You told us you wanted more clarity with regards the postage options and delivery timescales for certificate orders

We undertook a review of the customer journey of ordering certificates, which led us to improve and reclarify our postage options and delivery timescales, and how these were communicated both on the website and in the confirmation email

We received no further customer contact to obtain clarity on options and timescales, meaning the information is now clear and the process is functioning to expectations
You told us that you wanted to bring your dog to your wedding ceremony at Chelsea Old Town Hall

We made our location dog-friendly (alongside terms and conditions and a risk assessment to ensure everyone’s safety)

We received outstanding customer feedback from those who were able to bring along their canine family members to their wedding
You told us that you wanted more flexibility as to where you could hold your ceremony

We licensed new venues in the borough for ceremonies, and further rolled out arrangements for holding non-legal ceremonies at unlicensed venues (accompanied by a legal ceremony at the register office)

We received positive feedback from couples who wanted to hold their ceremony somewhere new that was special to them

You told us that you wanted an improved music system in our ceremony rooms, and would like the ability to live-broadcast your ceremony to family and friends unable to attend in person

We procured and embedded a new solution which allows us to upload your music choices to a system that plays the tracks using good quality speakers at the ceremony, and using cameras and secure weblinks allows you to invite others to watch your ceremony remotely

We received outstanding feedback with a very high take-up of these new features

You told us that you wanted the opportunity to view the Chelsea Old Town Hall whilst also being able to speak with registrars and suppliers

We hosted two successful and very well-attended Ceremony Open Days at the Chelsea Old Town Hall We received positive feedback from those who attended the Open Days

You told us that you wanted us to continue investing in our venue, services and access to our services

We secured funding to refurbish our ceremony rooms, and upgrade our website and booking solution Project plans are in place to refurbish the rooms and upgrade the website and booking solution over 2023-24

Customer Charter for Kensington and Chelsea Register Office

Last updated: 6 April 2023