Ancestry, the world’s largest commercial family history website, has scored a partial victory in a long-running legal battle to publish family history records held by National Records of Scotland (NRS).
On 11 September 2025, the General Regulatory Chamber ruled that NRS did not have the right to refuse a request by Ancestry to access its records under freedom of information law.
In October 2022, Ancestry requested digital images and digital indices of the following records held by NRS:
- 1841-1911 Scottish census records
- Scottish civil birth (1855-1921), marriage (1855-1946) and death (1855-1971) records
- Scottish parish baptism, marriage and burial records from 1538 to 1854
- Low Churches and Dissenters parish baptism (1746-1921), marriage (1746-1946) and burial (1746-1971) records
- 1855-1940 valuation rolls
- 1513-1925 wills and testaments and 1857-1965 soldiers’ wills
- 1867-79 prison registers
- Images taken from medieval documents
- 18th and 19th century photographs
- Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland: Coats of Arms (1672-1921)
- 1916-18 military service tribunal records
Many of these records are currently exclusively available on ScotlandsPeople, NRS’ family history website, where researchers can download them for a small fee.
In December 2022, NRS refused the request.
In May 2023, Ancestry complained to NRS about the refusal and also submitted an additional request for the 1921 Scottish census records, now also available on ScotlandsPeople.
The NRS subsequently rejected Ancestry’s complaint. Ancestry complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which upheld NRS’ decision to refuse access to the records.
In January 2025, Ancestry appealed against the ICO’s decision in a hearing at the General Regulatory Chamber.
At the appeal, Quinton Atkinson, Senior Director of Global Content Acquisition for Ancestry, agreed under cross-examination that the records were “a valuable resource” that Ancestry wished to “exploit… commercially”.
He said that Ancestry had obtained records from 300 archives in Europe, over half of which had received payment in some form. He said Ancestry would be open to paying fees to the NRS.
Linda Sinclair, Director of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer at the NRS, said that it would take the NRS 12 to 18 months to put in place Ancestry’s request and cost over £560,000, which would have a “catastrophic” effect on the NRS’ financial sustainability.
The General Regulatory Chamber partially upheld Ancestry’s appeal, ruling that producing the requested records was within NRS’ public task.
It said that "catastrophic" was not “a term of generally accepted accounting practice”.
However, it said it did not have jurisdiction to determine whether NRS' exercise of its discretion to refuse Ancestry's request was unlawful and a decision on whether the records could be released would need to be the subject of a separate hearing.
An Ancestry spokesperson said: "Ancestry’s mission is to help everyone discover, preserve, and share their family stories. Access to Scottish records from the 16th to 20th centuries would greatly enrich the discoveries that could be made by people around the world who have ancestral ties to Scotland.
"We partner with archives worldwide in ways that balance public interest, privacy, and archival stewardship, and we hope to do the same with the National Records of Scotland. We are reviewing the Tribunal’s ruling carefully and will determine our next steps in due course."
An NRS spokesperson said: “It is inappropriate to comment on live litigation.”
