Employers rights to a copy of your passport or birth certificate.

[fossyant]

We do it to everyone to stop any discrimination issues, even folk employed by other organisations that want paying via payroll. We get complaints about it, but the fines can be punitive for large organisations.

 

[User33236]

We are required to carry out ID checks and evidence of right to work at interview stage with copies been taken and sent to recruitment with the return of interview packs.

A copy is also held locally in the successful candidates personal file and these are registered as information assets within the organisation. The information assets registered were all recently reviewed in line with the upcoming change to GDPR.

 

[Blue Hills]

[QUOTE 5206440, member: 259"]Yes, of course I'm aware that you have to carry ID in Italy, like most other EU countries, and having lived in several of them I couldn't give a toss about it for reasons I hardly need to outline.[/QUOTE]
Well by all means feel free to clarify the brexit reference then. If you have lived in/know italy you will doubtless know the state's addiction to pointless paperwork. I know one young Italian in britain who, though a fan of the EU, is glad to be free of that nonsense. Italy isn't going to be leaving the EU anytime soon. So brexit/eu/
Italexit/price of pork has nowt to do with the issue.

On the OP's post I understand their concern but think it fine for an employer. I'd be more concerned about them delving into my private life/soul, which many try on these days for various reasons.

 

[MontyVeda]

It was tricky proving my identity a few years back after being made redundant... no driving license, no valid passport, only one paper bill posted with my name and address on it, rather than the 2 officially addressed letters the DWP wanted (their own letters didn't count). Thinking about it... i won't have had a valid passport when i started my current employment (or any photo ID)... can't remember what i did to prove i was me.

 

[subaqua]

You've also a right to ask how/where the information will be stored, the purpose for which it is required, and an assurance that the retention will be in accordance with the new data protection legislation that's about to land. Once they've satisfied those questions, particularly the latter, then I'd hand it across.

Of course, neither a passport or a birth certificate automatically indicative of your nationality or right to reside/work, so it's fair and reasonable to politely be asking the above questions.

Article 8 ECHR gives you a right to "private and family life, his home and his correspondence", subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law", so a just and reasonable explanation for requiring sight of these documents is an utterly reasonable thing to request.

Big problem comes when said employer has been issued it at commencement of employment 10 years previous but then asks again and when told that tells you they must have lost it. HR really didn’t like my response mentioning information security ...

 

[oldwheels]

What happens if you do not have a passport? I no longer have a valid one and have no need of it anyway. Does not bother me anyway as I have no employer other than myself. Are self employed persons supposed to show themselves their passport and check their birth certificate to make sure they actually exist?

 

[vickster]

What happens if you do not have a passport? I no longer have a valid one and have no need of it anyway. Does not bother me anyway as I have no employer other than myself. Are self employed persons supposed to show themselves their passport and check their birth certificate to make sure they actually exist?

You’ve presumably provided details to HMRC like your NI number?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yep it is the Right to Work rules. The employer also has to securely store the information. So you can ask them how they

What happens if you do not have a passport? I no longer have a valid one and have no need of it anyway. Does not bother me anyway as I have no employer other than myself. Are self employed persons supposed to show themselves their passport and check their birth certificate to make sure they actually exist?

Acceptable document combinations are all listed on the Government's website.

 

[subaqua]

Even an expired passport is still valid ID

 

[Drago]

To satisfy a Statutory Duty, as above.

There's no statutory duty to retain copies.

 

[potsy]

I've been working for 40 years and have never been asked for these documents nor heard of a colleague being asked. Most I have been asked to produce is my driving licence, which wasn't for identification purposes but to prove entitlement to drive.

Same here, though 30 years in my case.

 

[srw]

I've been reviewing staff members' right to work documents for the best part of the last 20 years. It's all part of the outsourcing of immigration controls to the private sector, which accelerated when a certain Theresa May was the Home Secretary. You should all be grateful you didn't immigrate as a child -she'll chuck you out to where you were born or deny you emergency healthcare even though you've been working and paying taxes all your life.

It's not just employers. Landlords have to establish right to residence.

 

[srw]

Yep.... Mr R has had to get copies of ID for his own niece and her girlfriend.

Somehow we've not done that for our first tenant. I hope she's legal....

 

[mjr]

Birth Certificates have a disclaimer on them saying they are not a form of ID.

Pointed out to my last employer, who gave up asking.

Someone should point it out to the government. The acceptance of birth certificate and NINo seems like a bit of a hole.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Someone should point it out to the government. The acceptance of birth certificate and NINo seems like a bit of a hole.

The two documents are required in combination. Im sure that someone could try to spoof the system using that combination, but it's rather unlikely. Or we could introduce Identity Cards, but no-one seems very keen on that.