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Birth certificates

Mail on Sunday, 23 August 2007

A reader wrote to the Mail on Sunday on 19 August 2007 suggesting that the easy availability of birth certificates posed a risk of identity fraud. Peter Murphy, the head of Registration, wrote to point out that birth certificates are not designed to be taken as proof of identity.

Issue date: 23 August 2007
Type: Letter to the Press

Sir

Your reader A Winfindale (Letters, 19 August) is concerned about security relating to obtaining a birth certificate.

Present legislation allows individuals to obtain a certificate if they can provide sufficient information of a particular birth.

However, a birth certificate is not evidence of identity. All certificates printed since 1993 contain a warning to that effect. While a birth certificate may be part of a verification process, it should not be accepted as sole evidence of identity.

Yours faithfully,

Peter D Murphy
Director, Registration Division,
General Register Office,
Smedley Hydro,
Trafalgar Road,
Birkdale,
Southport PR8 2HH