CBoth fathers and mothers ‘must be named on birth certificates’

The law is to be changed so that unmarried fathers and mothers must be named on their child’s birth certificate.

The change will be introduced as part of the Welfare Reform Bill which is to be published in the autumn. It will highlight the importance of parental responsibility by giving mothers and fathers the right to insist that they each acknowledge their obligations to their child.

The responsibility to register a new baby for unmarried parents currently lies predominantly with the mother.

According to Government research, about 7% of births in England and Wales each year are registered solely by mothers, which means every year up to 45,000 children do not have their father named on their birth certificates.

A statement from the Department of Work and Pensions says: “We are introducing a new responsibility on both parents to joint register the birth of their child. If either parent wants to sole register, the registrar will explain to them that they have to joint register unless it is impracticable, impossible or unreasonable to do so.

“If not then the registrar will ask the registering parent to come back with information about the other parent in order to continue with the joint registration.

“Where the mother wants joint registration but the father does not want to, the mother can provide information that allows the registrar to contact the father who will be obliged to take a paternity test.

If he is proven to be the father then the child will be joint registered.

“The changes will give a father the right to declare his paternity and have his name recorded on the birth certificate. Where the mother does not acknowledge that the father is the father, he will have the right to ask to take a paternity test.”

The names of married parents are already recorded automatically on their child’s birth certificate as soon as one of them registers. They do not have to register jointly and there are no plans to oblige them to do so