This Commissioner for Oaths website generates a number of enquiries from people who are not in my area.

I have been checking the search terms used and the following come up quite a bit. It might be a reflection on the lack of attention paid when typing in a search query or it may be many people can’t spell the term correctly or don’t know the proper terminology. These are some used that found their way here:

• commissioner for oaths
• commissioners for oaths
• commissioner of oaths uk
• commissioner of oaths
• commissioner+for+oaths
• commissioners of oaths

The thing is Google can see through the small errors and the searchess still get here. Clever stuff.

If they do provide them and this will be in exceptional circumstances they will charge £35 each.

For most people with LPAs it is advisable to have use-able copies so if you can’t get Office Copies the next best thing is a certified copy of the LPA.

So this is something that you might see a Commissioner for Oaths or a solicitor for.

Do get a quote because some might want to charge quite a lot for this service and certainly no less than £35.

Here is the Bar Council’s guidance about barristers being Commissioners for Oaths. It highlights the change as at January 2010 which meant that non-practising barristers without a right of audience are no longer considered to be as a Commisioner for Oaths.

Acting as a Commissioner for Oaths

To date barristers have been advised that they are entitled to administer an oath and that this right does not depend on whether they have a right of audience or a practising certificate. However, the Legal Services Act 2007 (S.4, Schedule 5) provides that the administration of oaths is now a reserved legal activity. Such activities may only be carried out by authorised persons.

Although barristers are deemed to be authorised by the Bar Council to carry out reserved legal activities, Section 4(4) of Schedule 5 of the 2007 Act states that a person is not so authorised unless they have “in force a certificate issued by the General Council of the Bar authorising the person to practise as a barrister”.

Section 14 of the 2007 Act makes it a criminal offence for a barrister to undertake reserved legal activities without a current practising certificate.

These provisions are due to come into force on 1 January 2010. Barristers without a practising certificate will therefore be unable to administer an oath after this date. This includes barristers practising under paragraph 206.1 & 2 of the Code who do not hold a practising certificate but who are permitted by the Code to hold themselves out as barristers in connection with the provision of limited legal services.

Barristers who are not sure whether they are entitled to a practising certificate should use the Rights of Audience Tool on the Bar Council website as eligibility depends on whether or not a barrister has a right of audience.

Professional Practice Committee
Bar Council
October 2009

If you need to make an affidavit or get certified copied of documents you will be charged for the service in most circumstances.

The standard fee applicable to solicitors for taking an oath is £5 but one way or another some lawyers charge more. It can be an amount for the oath and a separate amount for an ancillary service. There are also providers that you can find on the web that charge much more. Prices as high as £29.50 for swearing an affidavit or making a certified copy.

The simple answer is to shop around for a provider. For a one off single document this might not be much of an issue but if you gave a significant number of documents the difference in cost could be substantial.

Find out more on http://commissionerforoaths.co.uk

The institution involved will specify what type of information is required and who can make the certified copies. Noramally it is a solicitor or a commissioner for oaths but it could be a notary public.

The best course of action is to ask a commissioner for oaths the cost for doing a bulk order of certified copies. You might find that the fee is reduced from the typical £5 – £7 a copy in these circumstances.

Just shop around like you were looking for any other service.

Here are a couple of prime examples:

1. Jews may want to swear on the Holy Torah
2. Hindus will normally want to swear using the Bhagavad Gita.

Done properly the correct type of oath will be ascertained with sensitivity and any ancillary requirements such as washing of hands or feet will be accommodated. The simple idea is that the Commissioner for Oaths should respect all religeons and religeous requirements ancillary to making a proper oath.

Sometimes it is quite difficult to find a solicitor to do the swearing of an oath for your affidavit. This is because many do not offer this service any more.

Why have some solicitors stopped stop doing it?

The simple answer is the fee is to small. If we look at charging structures, most solicitors charge in 6 minute units. The set down fee for swearing an affidavit is £5 with an additional £2 per exhibit.

If this is done by a solicitor the whole process of swearing the affidavit will probably take between 7-10 minutes from start to finish. At a rate of say £160+ VAT per hour a six minute unit would equate to £18.80. It should be two units of cost really. That is the fee that would be charged if it was done on the actual time involved.

So may solicitors just see swearing oaths as an uneconomical work practice and don’t do it.