Nursery wants to see our birth certificates is this normal?

[StrugglingJuggling]

My daughter has just started nursery, we are only claiming the 15 hours free. Before she started the school requested we sent in proof of her age. They then asked for her passport, our passport’s (her parents), proof of national insurance numbers and our birth certificates.

They have lost the copies they made of her birth certificate and our passports twice now and have requested them for a third time. They still want to see our birth certificates (not seen mine since 1998, husband has never seen his!).

This seems like total overkill for a free nursery place everyone is entitled to. I assumed if we were applying for 30 hours you do so through the government website and produce a code to hand into the school. We aren’t even claiming 30 hours so I’m not sure what the extensive identity checks on us are for? As for losing copies of the documents TWICE well...

I’m just wondering if they should even be requesting our daughter’s passport, what if she didn’t have one? I’m really not sure why they would need to see our birth certificates if they have our passports? It’s irritating me as I’m convinced they are just harvesting data which they clearly have issues looking after!

I've only ever shown my children's birth certificates, never mine or dh!

It is presumably government requirements of childcare providers to check entitlement to the subsidy.

The relevant info should be on gov.uk if you want to check the nursery isn’t asking for more than is necessary.

Ask why they want them and if they know about GDPR

Normal to ask to see ID of the child to check age etc. The rest no.

They need something to check she’s entitled to the hours so need to check age - I had to show my children’s passport or birth cert and provide my national insurance number and DH’s, but not our birth certificates.

I'm a childminder and to claim funding I have to tick a box to say I have seen the child's birth certificate.

Have never heard of asking for passports or parent's birth certificates though.

That's strange I lost my birth certificate years ago and was never asked for it. I might have been asked for id 's can't remember but not birth certificates!

I want to ask but I’m trying not to come across as “that parent”, she’ll be going to the school too so I don’t want to seem awkward. I can totally understand verifying the child’s age, it’s just the amount of info they want on us. I’ve got nothing to hide, but it just feels like a bit much. We only showed passports to give notice to get married. We don’t actually know where our birth certificates are, that’s the other issue!

How did you get married without your birth certificates?

That is quite strange. I work in a nursery and we only ask for the children's birth certificate and passport if they have one. Plus id the parent is who they say they are. The certificate is to check age as it has been known for people to try to pass their child off as old enough when they aren't. I've seen it happen. The passport to check they are a UK resident. Shouldn't need parents birth certificates though, just some photo id to prove you are the parent/s named on the childs birth certificate.

Sounds like a hostile environment policy!

Oh and NI numbers to also prove your residency.

Truffleshuffles Passports was all they needed to give notice to marry.

Are you a POC OP? Might they be querying your entitlement to be here? Which they shouldn't be, but the way everything's gone to rats right now it wouldn't surprise me...

I would be wondering what had happened to my lost information?!?! They had two sets and lost them... so vital information unaccounted for. Do they have a GDPR policy?

What’s a POC? My husband and were both born about 2 miles away from the school at the same hospital, as was our daughter! Definitely no questions on that front.

Child's birth cert (or passport) plus possibly a parent's NI number or equivalent evidence of residence/entitlement. Nothing else.

Challenge them and ask them why they are requiring personal information without due cause and what are they doing with it?

I'd be asking them about losing the documents twice. As some else said, GDPR / data protection means they should keep all such info very carefully. How do you know they don't have a staff member who is stealing the copies of the docs and using them for identity theft?

If they lost copies of you passport (even photocopies) they could be In breach of data protection legislation since they have a duty to safeguard any information they hold on you.

As PP have said, I would be very concerned about the lost copies of your documents. I wouldn't have much confidence in their filing system or GDPR policy if they can't be trusted with simple photocopies.

Me too SimplyPut how can they lose confidential information twice?

GDPR means they also shouldn't be asking for unnecessary personal information!

POCstands for person of colour.

Sounds like Hostile Environment to me
thank you Theresa May

Under the GDPR act they are legally required to store your information in a secure way, tell you how it's stored and provide you access to see it if you want to. I would be loathe to provide it again and state as they have lost it twice you will not be proceeding to provide it again. If they do still require it then you can report them to the information commissioner for breach of the GDPR. They will be in serious trouble for losing your data so it may make them back off.

When I took the documents in the second time I asked about where the first copies had gone (obviously) the receptionist said they had destroyed them?! Sounds better than “I’ve no idea where we put them”.