School Charging £25 for passport applications

RAMBLER

I think the answer is pretty clear. 1. the school's taking the mick by charging that much - £10 ok, but £25 is too much.
2. Better still look at your nightbours - there's a good chance there will be a laywer, teacher, doctor etc to sign and save the rip off charge.

geo555

Here is a link to the list of people who can countersign your passport photo

https://www.passport.gov.uk/passport_countersign.asp

hollydays

Got a friend with a HR qualification to sign mine.

lato161105

My friend runs pub an because she holds the license she does them an never charges, prison officers can do them as well

rls1973

what a cheek, our school will do anything like that for nothing. feel like naming and shaming?!

Lady_E

I agree that £25 is awful , however, I am reading between the lines and guessing that at some stage they feel that they have had the mickey taken out of them and want to stop this. Possibly,Little Johnnys mum has turned up with Little Johnnys application to be countersigned and"could you also do the rest of the family , whilst you are at it". I am willing to bet that in practise , they would would waive the fee or possibly just ask for a small donation to the school fund.

shellsuit

Last year my daughters teacher (DD was 7 then) signed mine, my sons and my daughters for us.

It helped that she had previously taught my son and 20 odd years ago she had taught me too!

She was delighted to be asked, didn't ask for anything for taking up her time (which it did as they wrote to confirm things, she then had to write back) so we got her a big box of chocs as a way of saying thanks.

4Chickens

This extra information with puzzle you all further.

Its a special needs school with approx 150 pupils in total.

Do you think the parents of children with special needs deserve this? Lets face it life is difficult enough!

KMK

I agree that £25 is over the top even if it is going to the school fund and not to the teacher.

I am a retired teacher and I was often asked to countersign such applications, which I always did for free. However, ex-pupils would sometimes just "drop in" and expect to be seen immediately with the quite complex form at the ready and it was not always very convenient to complete it as I was trying to do my job. When I pointed out that some notice would be helpful, I was told that the reason they used school was because we did not charge "like the doctor does" and of course they expected to be seen in school without any prior appointment.

So maybe the school in question has had similar situations to deal with. I suppose you can argue that a teacher's time is as valuable as any other professional's time.You would not expect a solicitor to sign anything for free would you?

But £25 does seem excessive, I agree. The teacher will not benefit from the fee. It sounds like the money goes to help the finances of the school.

hollydays

cindiedunkley wrote:

This extra information with puzzle you all further.

Its a special needs school with approx 150 pupils in total.

Do you think the parents of children with special needs deserve this? Lets face it life is difficult enough!

In the face of that its very hard to justify.Do you have a person in authority there you trust who could raise the issue,to find out what their take is on it.It seems very exploitative,I think we all agree.