Payment and prices
Do you use a secure server for payments?
Yes. We take your security very seriously. We use Worldpay, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group to process your payments on our behalf and their site is well protected, using the latest encryption technology. We do not store your card details anywhere on our servers.
Can non-UK residents make payments and use the site?
Yes, customers living outside the UK can purchase PayAsYouGo credits online using a credit or debit card, in the same way as our UK-based customers. Payments can be made in your own currency by selecting the relevant option in the ’Choose currency‘ drop-down menu.
How much does it cost to view an image?
Viewing the images of the household pages uses 30 credits, which costs from £2.50 to £3.48, depending on the package of credits that you buy.
The images have all been scanned in very high quality colour – all previous censuses have only been available in black and white – giving much clearer images and greater legibility than previous censuses.
For this price you will also be able to view all the associated images for the family: this includes both sides of the household form ( RG 14); the page from the enumerator’s book,which lists the head of household for all the neighbouring buildings; summary statistical pages for the registation district and details of the enumerator’s walk (RG 78). For most searches this means that you will get at between two and seven images for your 30 credits.
Please note: at launch only the main RG 14 image (the orignal household page) will be available, but once you have bought the image of RG 14 your search will be saved in ‘my records’ and you will be able to view the associated RG 78 images without any further payment as soon as these are available on site. Make sure you are signed up to receive our newsletter or keep an eye on our blog at http://blog.1911census.co.uk (new window) so you know when the extra images become available.
How much does it cost to view a transcript?
For 10 credits (which cost between 83p and £1.16, depending on the package you buy) you can view a full transcript of everyone in the household, or a whole page of an institution. This compares with £1 to view a whole household on the official 1901 site, which was launched seven years ago.
There is also more information contained within the transcript this time around. You will get details about the length of the marriage (which will help you find registration details of the marriage). We have also transcribed every field of the census to enable very flexible searching.
Your paid images and transcripts are saved automatically in ’my records’, so you can return to them whenever you wish by logging on to the site, without needing to pay again.
For more information on credits, see About credits.
How can I check how many credits I have left and when they expire?
When you sign in the number of remaining credits, along with their expiry date, will appear automatically towards the top-left of the screen. We will also send you an email before they expire, so make sure we have your correct email address.
Will I get charged twice if I try to buy a transcript or original page that I have already paid for?
No. The website remembers which transcripts and original pages you have bought and you will not be charged again if you try to buy one you have already paid for.
Can I buy a subscription to access the site?
1911 census records can only be viewed using PayAsYouGo credits on this website. There will be a subscription service available on findmypast.com (new window) later in 2009.
I have purchased PayAsYouGo credits but they are not showing on my account. What should I do?
First, use the refresh button to re-load the page, then try signing out of your account and signing back in again. If neither of these things work it is likely that your payment attempt was unsuccessful. Please contact our Customer Support team, who will be happy to investigate for you. Do please check your email inbox (and also your spam or junk mail folder, just in case) to see if we have sent you a payment confirmation email, as the information in the email will help the Customer Support team help you more quickly.
Contact us
I have credits left over. What can I do with them?
Left-over credits can also be used on our sister site, findmypast.com (new window). Find My Past is one of the UK’s leading providers of family history records. Its collection holds over 650 million records, and includes a complete set of birth, death and marriage indexes from 1837 to 2006; censuses from 1841 to 1901; parish records; passenger lists and military records, and more.
Why does the 1911 census cost more than other censuses?
The 1911 digitisation project was a huge undertaking , on a significantly different scale from all previous censuses, and the multi-million pound project was completed without any public subsidy.
Because all the individual household schedules have been preserved, there are over ten times the number of images (around 16 million) compared to 1901 census. The census had to be scanned from the original documents, rather than created from film, which involved considerable handling and conservation of fragile documents, significantly increasing the costs of digitisation.
The pricing is in line with other major digitisation initiatives, such as the BT 27 passenger lists and The National Archives’ Documents Online service.
Why isn’t the service free?
1911census.co.uk gives you online access to a huge archive of census records, which can be viewed from anywhere in the world, at any time of day or night. A fee is charged to view individual records to cover the costs involved in making these records available online. How we digitise the census.
