@JanMurphy, yes phase 2 must be targeted at a different audience, who are willing to pay a lot more for a rapid turnaround. Legal researchers, perhaps, and those "find an heir" companies who work against the clock. Not so relevant for family researchers - our forebears aren't likely to go anywhere in any given fortnight. I hope that phase 1 was successful enough to return, anyway. I wonder if they approached the 45,000 PDF limit?

@AndyW I'm thinking more along the lines of what happened with the 1939 Register. I would love to see a service where one could sign up for a year's subscription for unlimited access to any record that was not restricted by privacy concerns, with a Pay-as-you-go option for the people who only needed a handful of certificates. I think there would be a market for it. Imagine what you could do if you were running a ONS or OPS.

As it is now, I'm very happy to have the online searchable index that has the mother's maiden name for the earlier birth registrations.