What is the maximum penalty for not registering a birth?

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Dear General Register Office,

If someone in the UK were to not ever register the birth of their child, what would the MAXIMUM penalty be? does it carry a custodial penalty?

Who would be liable for non registration penalty?

What would the implications be for the child regarding access to public services, passport, health care?

How would non registration affect the child's access to state education? would it still be compulsory?

Do you have any official estimations of how many children are born each year in the UK and not registered?

Yours faithfully,

D Bukhari

Dear General Register Office,

I am contacting you to request an internal review of my request http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wh... your response is now long overdue even though the information requested is quite clear.
Please also explain what so far has delayed your response.

Please respond promptly to this reminder and request for an internal review.

Yours faithfully,

D Bukhari

Dear D Bukhari

Thank you for your email of 8 April in which you ask for information
related to the non-registration of births in the United Kingdom (UK). I am
sorry for the delay in responding to your enquiry. For ease I have
reproduced your questions and the response below. 

    

1) If someone in the UK were to not ever register the birth of their
child, what would the MAXIMUM penalty be? Does it carry a custodial
penalty?

In England &Wales, level 1 of the standard scale of fines applies to this
offence. This means that the maximum fine would be £200.

    

 2) Who would be liable for non registration penalty?

This would vary depending on the circumstances but it would normally be
the mother or the father if married to the mother, or if the mother or
father were unable to register the birth, some other qualified informant.

    

3) What would the implications be for the child regarding access to public
services, passport, health care?

I am unable to answer with any authority on this question as different
public services have different requirements to prove entitlement to
services and you may wish to address your question to the relevant
department, however in the case of a passport application I can confirm
that there is a requirement to provide a birth certificate as part of the
application process.

    

4) How would non registration affect the child's access to state
education? Would it still be compulsory?

You may wish to address this question to the Department for Education.

    

 5) Do you have any official estimations of how many children are born
each year in the UK and not registered?

 I am not aware of any official estimations on how many children are not
registered and I should also stress that  the General Register Office for
Northern Ireland and Scotland are the responsibility of the devolved
administrations so I can not comment on the UK as a whole, We would
estimate that approximately 20 births are unregistered within the first 12
months of the event but this may be an underestimation as we can not take
into account any births that take place outside of the health service. You
may wish to be aware that there is a provision for a late birth
registration after the 12 month period and there is no upper age limit at
which a birth can still be recorded as a late birth registration.

Once again please accept my apology for not responding sooner and I hope
the above information is helpful to you.

Yours sincerely

Melanie Lee
Communications Manager
Identity and Passport Service | General Register Office | Communications
and Business Support | Room 109 Smedley Hydro | Trafalgar Road | Southport
| PR8 2HH

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Scott left an annotation ()

I am wondering why it is that people are fined for non-registration of their child? Surely it is up to the parents if they wish their child to be a part of society or not? There must be some cases where this happens?

An extension of this is visitors to the UK. How do they have the rights to free education, benefits, NHS treatment, etc.? They are not registered here. Having a passport is not and cannot be used to identify any individual as they, like any document can be faked.

Also, point no.3 you say that a birth certificate is required for passport applications. Why is this? It cannot be used as a form of identification as it clearly states this on it.