Photo ID

Adeline

There was a post I read today by @JoOfVengerberg about places only accepting passport as ID and I've been increasingly faced with this and it's causing trouble. Anyone else?

As a disabled person with disabled children, my income is limited. I will never go on a holiday abroad yet I'm expected to find nearly £90 for a passport for ID sake. In the past they would accept birth certificate along with something with national insurance number or address on it but more and more places are flat-out refusing anything but photo ID. Even a local government-run free education course I tried to sign up to this week. 

If passports are mandatory (and they increasingly seem to be becomming so) shouldn't they be free, at least for the first one? 

I believe they've even passed a rule about requiring photo ID for voting in elections from May. 

JoOfVengerberg

Hey @Adeline I think you can also use a driver's license but I must have a passport as I don't drive, just to clarify. I think it's disgraceful to be honest, especially as you say for us disabled/poor people it's a huge expense!

Adeline

I don't have a driving license either. It's really difficult and it must disproportionately hurt disabled people and those on a low income. 

No wonder the the current government put it in place for the next election too and made it harder for certain groups to vote. 

I suppose I will eventually have to save up and get a passport but it seems very unfair.

Jean Eveleigh

in terms of the elections you can get a voter ID from the electoral commission - https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id/applying-a-voter-authority-certificate#anonymous-electors-document-sc

Cartini

Adeline said:

I don't have a driving license either. It's really difficult and it must disproportionately hurt disabled people and those on a low income. 

No wonder the the current government put it in place for the next election too and made it harder for certain groups to vote. 

I suppose I will eventually have to save up and get a passport but it seems very unfair.

Photo ID, which I agree with, is being brought in to stop people voting several times.  Whether that works or not, only time will tell.

Oxonlady

Hi @Jean Everleigh and others on this thread, I have the same problem, I am bedbound now, so I have not bothered to renew my passport. I have never driven, so no driving licence.
I will apply for voter ID, thanks for the advice, Jean. 
Some people accept my Blue Badge as photo ID but others don't. You can't even sign up to the government's Gateway without either a passport or a Driving licence. So now I can't get any information about my State Pension online and will have to ring the helpline. I'm not best pleased about that. 

bg844

Only once in the past 3 years had to use my Passport for documentation purposes within the UK, a Driving Licence has always been sufficient.

JBS2022

I have no photo ID, I don't drive, and don't travel abroad so don't have those forms of ID, I only have my council tax and water bill which I receive once a year. If I ever need to claim UC I'm basically screwed. I used to have a PO Card Account but it got shut down, (wouldn't help me anyway only accept benefit or tax credit payments) my wages are paid into my husband's bank account now(which I control). I hope the Government does create a Voluntary Free ID card as it would help me massively. You can buy Photo ID cards but some people don't accept it because they not official 

Oxonlady

Hi everyone, I have an update. When I tried to get a Voter Authority Certificate, I was told that it cannot be used for ID purposes anywhere else apart from at a Polling Station. Since I have to vote by post, I was simply told that I don't need any ID to vote and my application was stopped. 

SueHeath

Interesting thread - i only use my Pass port for ID so i will look into Voter ID, but i must say i haven't came across that option when i have tried an online Gov site to look into my up coming state pension, but i will re check.

Cartini

SueHeath said:

Interesting thread - i only use my Pass port for ID so i will look into Voter ID, but i must say i haven't came across that option when i have tried an online Gov site to look into my up coming state pension, but i will re check.

I don`t remembrer using a passport to register with "check your pension" site; mind you, it`s been a few years.  I don`t have one now and I don`t see any need to get one.

SueHeath

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Interesting thread - i only use my Pass port for ID so i will look into Voter ID, but i must say i haven't came across that option when i have tried an online Gov site to look into my up coming state pension, but i will re check.

I don`t remembrer using a passport to register with "check your pension" site; mind you, it`s been a few years.  I don`t have one now and I don`t see any need to get one.

yep been trying to get on gov site for my state pension gateway, to register i need driving licence or pass port cant remember of hand what else, but i don't drive - will have to wait i suppose till i get my letter, just seams every think is online now days ??? 

Cartini

SueHeath said:

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Interesting thread - i only use my Pass port for ID so i will look into Voter ID, but i must say i haven't came across that option when i have tried an online Gov site to look into my up coming state pension, but i will re check.

I don`t remembrer using a passport to register with "check your pension" site; mind you, it`s been a few years.  I don`t have one now and I don`t see any need to get one.

yep been trying to get on gov site for my state pension gateway, to register i need driving licence or pass port cant remember of hand what else, but i don't drive - will have to wait i suppose till i get my letter, just seams every think is online now days ??? 

That`s the way the world is going. It reminds me of an incident at work a few years back.  I work in IT and the company I work for wanted all documents saved "online" (their internal "cloud" / storage area).

We had a catastrophic failure of some equipment which took down the storage that held the documents on.  At a meeting:

Q. Where`s the Disaster Recovery documents?

A. On the equipment we can`t get to.

Silence.

Online is convenient, but it has serious drawbacks.

SueHeath

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Interesting thread - i only use my Pass port for ID so i will look into Voter ID, but i must say i haven't came across that option when i have tried an online Gov site to look into my up coming state pension, but i will re check.

I don`t remembrer using a passport to register with "check your pension" site; mind you, it`s been a few years.  I don`t have one now and I don`t see any need to get one.

yep been trying to get on gov site for my state pension gateway, to register i need driving licence or pass port cant remember of hand what else, but i don't drive - will have to wait i suppose till i get my letter, just seams every think is online now days ??? 

That`s the way the world is going. It reminds me of an incident at work a few years back.  I work in IT and the company I work for wanted all documents saved "online" (their internal "cloud" / storage area).

We had a catastrophic failure of some equipment which took down the storage that held the documents on.  At a meeting:

Q. Where`s the Disaster Recovery documents?

A. On the equipment we can`t get to.

Silence.

Online is convenient, but it has serious drawbacks.

Tell me about it ha ha the lads are always trying to teach me things on line, as tech frightens me, i hate that i feel that i am being forced to put more and more data and personal things online, i am refusing point blank at the moment to do online banking, i've read to many stories about peoples accounts etc being hacked, it frightens the life out of me to be honest.x

Cartini

SueHeath said:

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Interesting thread - i only use my Pass port for ID so i will look into Voter ID, but i must say i haven't came across that option when i have tried an online Gov site to look into my up coming state pension, but i will re check.

I don`t remembrer using a passport to register with "check your pension" site; mind you, it`s been a few years.  I don`t have one now and I don`t see any need to get one.

yep been trying to get on gov site for my state pension gateway, to register i need driving licence or pass port cant remember of hand what else, but i don't drive - will have to wait i suppose till i get my letter, just seams every think is online now days ??? 

That`s the way the world is going. It reminds me of an incident at work a few years back.  I work in IT and the company I work for wanted all documents saved "online" (their internal "cloud" / storage area).

We had a catastrophic failure of some equipment which took down the storage that held the documents on.  At a meeting:

Q. Where`s the Disaster Recovery documents?

A. On the equipment we can`t get to.

Silence.

Online is convenient, but it has serious drawbacks.

Tell me about it ha ha the lads are always trying to teach me things on line, as tech frightens me, i hate that i feel that i am being forced to put more and more data and personal things online, i am refusing point blank at the moment to do online banking, i've read to many stories about peoples accounts etc being hacked, it frightens the life out of me to be honest.x

In fairness, online banking is safe.  It`s usually the account holder that causes accounts to be hacked; falling for scam phone calls, phishing and the such like.

Unfortunately the writing is on the wall for local branches; it might not be in our lifetime, but the day will come where absolutely everything will be conducted online.

SueHeath

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Cartini said:

SueHeath said:

Interesting thread - i only use my Pass port for ID so i will look into Voter ID, but i must say i haven't came across that option when i have tried an online Gov site to look into my up coming state pension, but i will re check.

I don`t remembrer using a passport to register with "check your pension" site; mind you, it`s been a few years.  I don`t have one now and I don`t see any need to get one.

yep been trying to get on gov site for my state pension gateway, to register i need driving licence or pass port cant remember of hand what else, but i don't drive - will have to wait i suppose till i get my letter, just seams every think is online now days ??? 

That`s the way the world is going. It reminds me of an incident at work a few years back.  I work in IT and the company I work for wanted all documents saved "online" (their internal "cloud" / storage area).

We had a catastrophic failure of some equipment which took down the storage that held the documents on.  At a meeting:

Q. Where`s the Disaster Recovery documents?

A. On the equipment we can`t get to.

Silence.

Online is convenient, but it has serious drawbacks.

Tell me about it ha ha the lads are always trying to teach me things on line, as tech frightens me, i hate that i feel that i am being forced to put more and more data and personal things online, i am refusing point blank at the moment to do online banking, i've read to many stories about peoples accounts etc being hacked, it frightens the life out of me to be honest.x

In fairness, online banking is safe.  It`s usually the account holder that causes accounts to be hacked; falling for scam phone calls, phishing and the such like.

Unfortunately the writing is on the wall for local branches; it might not be in our lifetime, but the day will come where absolutely everything will be conducted online.

Yep that account holder would be me ha ha 
I know it's sad we can see it now, with the amount of banks closing and remember years back "insurance brokers" we don't see many of those places now. Super markets will be another one, i fear we will lose the contact with people maning the tills. x

JoOfVengerberg

bg844 said:

Only once in the past 3 years had to use my Passport for documentation purposes within the UK, a Driving Licence has always been sufficient.

This is fine, but the point of this thread from my understanding is that many of us don't drive and can't afford a passport renewal at the moment, so that's the issue.

JoOfVengerberg

@SueHeath Which? have had Starling at the top of their customer satisfaction polls for a long while now. I have a couple friends who work in the sector and they say it's completely safe. The thing is they are signed up to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which means if anything goes wrong (which is rare) you get payouts of up to £85k and it works like any brick and mortar bank. You may not want to use online services which is fine, but I thought I would write this to set other people's mind at ease as well.

janer1967

I'm having nightmare applying online for tobys first driving licence it keeps rejecting the photo despite sending the one used for his passport and a second one that still rejected 

However the online passport renew was very simple and quick it took 8 weeks to get mine only 3 weeks for toby . But I do understand its a massive expense just for id purpose ridiculous there is no such other id card for those without 

janer1967

Just one suggestion if you meet the medical condition you could apply for provisional driving licence which is £34 and lasts 10 years you don't have to drive just cheaper option to passport 

Biblioklept

Cartini said:

Adeline said:

I don't have a driving license either. It's really difficult and it must disproportionately hurt disabled people and those on a low income. 

No wonder the the current government put it in place for the next election too and made it harder for certain groups to vote. 

I suppose I will eventually have to save up and get a passport but it seems very unfair.

Photo ID, which I agree with, is being brought in to stop people voting several times.  Whether that works or not, only time will tell.

I don't agree with it and found this quote from electroal reform interesting: 
"Evidence from around the world shows that forcing voters to bring photographic ID to the polling station just makes it harder for people to vote – while doing little to increase faith in the integrity of the system. "

In the US there's irrefutable evidence that strict ID laws "disproportionately disadvantage already marginalised groups."

And the UK Government's own commissioned research found that those with severely limiting disabilities, the unemployed, people without qualifications, and those who had never voted before were all less likely to hold any form of photo ID.

They've also not exactly made it very public that this law is in place and I can believe at the next general election many thousands of people will be turned away as they'll turn up without the required ID. 

Plus your comment about stopping voter fraud doesn't appear based on facts. In 2018 there was rumours of large-scale fraud and people voting several times, the reality is there were only 266 cases of electoral fraud investigated (hardly enough to sway an election) and of those only 1 led to conviction and 2 to cautions. 

Whereas there are well over 2 million people of voting age in the UK without photo ID. 

In 2019 they did a tiny pilot of this at some local elections and 740 people were turned away and lost their constitutional right to vote because circumstance meant they didn't have photo ID.