Issue details

R-001-10 - Registration Service Income

1. To request permission to increase the fees for Private Citizenship Ceremonies from £42.00 to £60.00 and to introduce a reservation fee for Registration Office marriage and civil partnership ceremonies of £30.00 (non refundable) at the Registration offices (Chippenham, Salisbury and Devizes). The net effect of these increases will be an additional £14,000 in this financial year based on anticipated figures

Decision type: Non-key

Decision status: For Determination

Decision due: 1 Aug 2010 by Cabinet Member for Hubs, Governance, Support Services, Heritage & Arts and Customer Care

Department: Department of Transformation and Resources

Contact: Jacqui White, Service Director Business Services 713013 email jacqui.white@wiltshire.gov.uk jacqui.white@wiltshire.gov.uk.

Consultation process

A significant proportion of the Registration budget is balanced through income derived from ceremonies provided for the public. However, due to the current financial climate, considerably fewer ceremonies are taking place. When constructing the 10/11 budget account was taken of this declining trend and the budget adjusted accordingly based on a ‘best guess’ of predicted ceremonies that would take place.
Work has now taken place on income figures for 2010/11 based on the anticipated budget income against our actual bookings and it shows that these are lower again than predicted during the budget setting process.
Measures have been taken to contain the costs by not replacing a Head of Service post and containing any non essential spend. Additional mechanisms for raising income are being introduced such as chip and pin payments to increase the flexibility for raising income on copy birth and death certificates which also provides a better service to the public. However, this will still be insufficient to offset the anticipated shortfall.