Nursery requesting to see my DC passport

[cierzo]

The other day went I collected my DC from nursery I was asked to bring my DC's passport. We just started the 15hrs free allowance, but I do not think this is something to do with that.

Why do they require to see this? Anyone knows if this is related to the new government thing which I saw in the papers and Schools week

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/non-white-schoolchildren-prove-not-asylum-seekers-schools-nationality-documents-london-a7324851.html

schoolsweek.co.uk/pupils-who-were-not-white-british-told-to-send-in-birthplace-data/

Can someone advise?

[Afreshstartplease]

Maybe they ask for passports initially as its what they find most people bring / have to hand easier.

Our birth certificates are all stored away, I would get passports first if needed one or the other

[CoYoAddict]

Me I totally agree with the second half of your post but I on the other hand do hope we end up with identity cards. They work efficiently enough for so many other countries and we live in an age where it's virtually impossible to live an honest blameless life without the authorities knowing your every move anyway so I really don't see what the issue with ID cards is, except to make life more difficult for would be fraudsters, criminals and people wishing to stay in the UK illegally.

[CattyMcCatface]

YuckYuckEwwww

If you have a foreign birth certificate then you will also have a passport otherwise how did they get here?! Take it in, what is the problem?

Either that passport expired
or
The birth was registered as a foreign birth - you don't have to be born in that country to do that


If a child is starting at nursery how would the passport have expired - nursery children are aged 2 to 4 - how long does a passport last???

If no passport - Why can't the parent just say "my child was born in the UK here is his birth certificate, he doesn't have a passport" It's not hard is it I can't understand what all the hoo ha is about. Jeez.

[originalmavis]

When we asked for them it really was just to prove the child existed - nothing to do with nationality of filling ethnic origin quotas.

If the nursery can't prove the child is enrolled, then the council might not pay them the 15 hours free childcare. It's an automatic payment that the nursery can claim back from the council and the money is taken off your fees.

We had to when ds went to nursery at his school.

Sometimed people ask for a passport rather than a birth certificate as it's easier to confirm that it's genuine, or people just have it to hand. In the nursery I worked for, the majority of families were expats here for contracts, tours etc, and often they would have the kids passports here but birth certs would be abroad.

[XianLiax]

It's not about nursery funding.

My DC are 6 and they were asked to provide nationality and place of birth info.

I declined on principle with no come-back from school - and you don't actually have to bring proof (OP nursery made a mistake asking for passport to prove it) - so it would be pretty hopeless as a way of screening.

It is just data gathering. It will have no consequences for individual children - but it will give politicians plenty more data points to weave a story that somehow blames foreign born children for problems in education, and it will quantify the number of European children that are schooled in the UK for the purpose of Brexit negotiations.

I want no part of it. It is an ugly thing, and the government is benefitting from being able to slip these things through without proper challenge.

[wasonthelist]

I really don't see what the issue with ID cards is

They would cost a massive amount to implement and maintain.
In order to "make life difficult for fraudsters, criminals and people wishing to stay in the UK illegally." ID cards would need to be demanded often - by doctors, schools, nurseries, the Police etc etc I regard this as an interference in my daily life I can do without. Far better to actually deal with the people you mention, than inconvenience everyone.
Considering how useless we are at dealing with illegal immigrants now - do you really see ID cards helping?
In order to be effective, every single person would need a card - what about travellers, homeless people, Old people in nursing homes who have dementia?
A lot of other countries that have ID cards don't really make much use of them so they are a bit pointless - but they can trigger unrest, like the Paris Banlieu riots where Police continually demanding ID from everyone was being used as harrasment.

Advocates of ID cards haven't considered the practicalities properly and haven't thought about how admin typically works in the UK.

There are a lot more objections - but that will do for starters - they are a bad idea, a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist.

[XianLiax]

This issue affects all schools - not just nurseries - so I hope you don't mind that I set up a splinter thread

[CoYoAddict]

In order to "make life difficult for fraudsters, criminals and people wishing to stay in the UK illegally." ID cards would need to be demanded often - by doctors, schools, nurseries, the Police etc etc I regard this as an interference in my daily life I can do without. Far better to actually deal with the people you mention, than inconvenience everyone.

I completely disagree. You accept that you must carry your bank cards around and driving licence around present them as appropriate, it's not really that much of an imposition, is it? What's the difference?

And if only 'dealing with' those people were as easy as you make it sound. ID cards would be a way to deal with them. I've lived in a country where ID cards were the norm and it worked very well indeed.

[unlucky83]

Years ago I knew someone who was illegal immigrant / asylum seeker.(actually a few similar people). They entered the UK illegally and were picked up here - they did have a valid asylum claim but it was taking years to process. Meanwhile they weren't supposed to work .
They worked illegally using a fake name and EU ID card. Fake ID cards being easier to obtain (but I also knew how to get a fake passport). The fake ID card let them get a valid NI number, open a bank account and prove to employers they were eligible to work in the UK.
Once in the UK, fake UK passports were the least desirable. If you could hardly speak English, had no UK qualifications, didn't remember children's TV programs from when you were young etc it would make people question the authenticity of UK nationality more than if you had a EU ID/passport...
The same would be true of UK ID cards ...unless brexit restricts EU citizens rights to work in the UK ...

I hate the data gathering that is going on - like I said to obtain funding for a 3yr in Scotland now involves showing proof of address and passport/BC. And filling in a massive form ..nationality etc. And contact information - for 3 people - parent/carers details and phone numbers and email addresses. And medical information and HV details (for named person)
I don't think it is necessarily to target foreign born people/children, it is more to do with gathering information about everyone...very Big Brother.
(There are 'prefer not to say' options and I know someone entering the info on the database just left all the non-essential stuff blank ...)

[Londonmamabychance]

The new requirement to inform about country of birth is NOT compulsory! the nurseries and schools who present it as such are doing something wrong. They are under pressure to provide the information form the Home office and Department of Education. But by law you cannot demand that information.

It is completely up to you how you choose to respond. If you are all for stricter checks and a stricter immigration policy, then by all means go ahead and participate in this enhanced regime to control immigration, but if you are not, and think this issue should be handled in a different way, feel free to respectfully say that to your knowledge, you do not have to provide this information. This is what I intend to do if my nursery asks me. I will not participate in this police-state regime. If the immigration authorities want to control immigration, it should be done in other ways than by involving education istitutions, thereby discouraging immigrant parents in precarious situations from sending their children to school.

[wasonthelist]

CoYoAddict and what about the old folks, travellers etc?

I've lived in a country where ID cards were the norm and it worked very well indeed. Where was that? I'd love to research how they have no illegal immigrants :)

[wasonthelist]

I hate the data gathering that is going on

So do I, and a lot of it is Government Agencies Jockeying to become a "system of record" so they keep the work of administering and controlling the data.