Registering a birth
One of the first tasks of a new parent, is to register the birth of your child which is what I did last week when I went to the Southampton Register Office to register the birth of our daughter Beatrix. We could have done this at the Princess Anne Hospital where she was born but forgot until we were leaving and were then carrying far too much to make the necessary detour on the way out! Luckily you have 42 days to register the birth so we had plenty of time.
In this day and age where fraud is so prevalent, I was amazed to discover that when you register a birth you need absolutely no official form of identification - in fact only one parent needs to attend and you don’t even need to take the baby!
The only information you need, in addition to the chosen name of course, is the following:
- The date of birth of the baby
- The gender
- The surname of the mother
- The hospital at which the birth took place
This is then used to look up the baby’s birth (yes, the NHS and the Register Office have an integrated computer system - what a surprise!). In addition, you provide the following information for both parents which is recorded but not placed on the birth certificate:
- Full name (including maiden name)
- Date of birth
- Place of birth
- Occupation
Then, once this has all been registered, you get given (for a small fee) 2 birth certificates - a short version (as shown in the photo) which shows the basic information and is usually sufficient as a form of identification, and a full version which is required to obtain a first passport.
Note: You’ll need the birth certificate to be able to claim child benefit and the £250 child trust fund voucher you and your child are entitled to.
Tags: Life