No room at the inn for Lambeth babies?

1.14.47pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 11th Jan 2007

Cllr Rob Banks is calling on Lambeth to speed up the time taken to register babies' birth

Babies born in Lambeth are facing a wait of over TWO MONTHS just to get registered for a birth certificate, a councillor has revealed.

Oval Ward Lib Dem Councillor Rob Banks said: "At the end of October 2006, my wife Helen gave birth to our baby daughter, Rosie, at St Thomas' Hospital. I phoned up on October 25th to book an appointment to register her birth. I was told that it would not be possible to register her for more than two months - just after Christmas, on December 27th.

"But as the council's own website admits, you should register the birth within 6 weeks. I know that if the local authority cannot register you in that time then it is not your fault, but it seems ridiculous that the council is taking so long to give people appointments.

"And the worrying thing is that other parents might be having even longer waits - because the council were unable to tell me how long the average waiting time is!"

Cllr Banks and his wife eventually went to a neighbouring borough to get the paperwork done.

Cllr Banks added: "Once Lambeth had the documents from the neighbouring council, they issued the certificate very quickly - so why does it take so long for the appointment?

"In addition to being a legal requirement, a birth certificate is needed for things like claiming child benefit or getting a passport. I am calling on Lambeth to get their act together on this one, so other parents don't face the same hassle we did."