School Charging £25 for passport applications

beca

stugib wrote:

Turn the question around - why should they be expected to do it at all? I've got 2 teachers in my family, so I can guess what their point of view is - they almost certainly don't want to be faced with potentially 10, 50, 100 forms to fill in - it's going to infringe on their own time or their teaching or preparation time.

So, given that you can't expect professional's time for free, it then only comes down to the level of fee and who it gets paid to. I'd imagine the fee is as high as £25 to discourage as many parents as possible from asking.

Quite agree - why on earth should a professional complete umpteen passport applications, containing their own personal details, for nothing? It is nothing to do with school whatsoever. It's your choice to go abroad. If you can afford to go abroad then you should be able to afford the fee for getting a passport signed.

It hacks me off no end that someone, say, a mechanic for example, can earn extra cash doing foreigners, but God help a "professional" if they do the same (and in this example, the money is going to the school anyway - it is a good way for the school to generate extra income - the fact that it is a special schools surely makes it even more of a good cause).

superscaper

I think it should have nothing to do with the school, it is the individual who is countersigning and it should be down to the individual whether they want to charge for it or refuse to do it at all. Teacher's don't get paid enough as it is without doing extra work for the school's financial benefit.

4Chickens

Thanks for all your input.

Some responses have raised more questions than they have answered.

Whatever happened to just doing something for someone out of the goodness of your heart?

Is there anything that cannot be bought or sold anymore?

I am an accountant and have some legal experience. If someone asks me for help or advice I either give it or I don't. I do not set financial conditions to the request. I am fortuneate enough to have a good education and am successful in what I do. Sadly some people are not as capable as others. I use my talents to earn a living and I also use them to help other people when I can.

If the school wants to discourage requests for assistance with passport applications then they should simply refuse to do them.

superscaper

Personally, if someone I know asked me and I had the time, I'd countersign a passport (according to that list I can, professional engineering qualifications) and it would never even cross my mind to charge for it. I can't imagine in a school of 150 pupils teachers would be overburdened by countersigning. The first two years are not counted because teachers haven't known them long enough (so that probably brings it down below 100), then I assume pupils will only approach the teachers they know and only if they need a new passport (which they won't all want at the same time) and only if they haven't got someone else (such as a family friend) to already sign it.

advent1122

This country has gone from "Glad to be of assistance" to "What's in it for me?".

shampain

Voyager2002 wrote:

No longer.

With the new system, the person counter-signing has to enter quite a lot of information IN BLOCK CAPITALS, which is incredibly time-consuming. Everything has to be absolutely right, which again requires time for checking -- the process is not obvious. And now the person counter-signing must give their own passport number -- again, more time required to dig out the passport and enter a long number, again getting everything absolutely right.

When my application was counter-signed (by a colleague) it took more than half an hour. So I think that 25 pounds is a reasonable fee for the time and trouble involved. And since it is time for which the teachers are being paid, giving the money to the school is again fair enough.

Thats unbelievable.... so this person earns £50 an hour then do they?
£25 is way over the top....£5 yes that is ok... i still can't believe they are asking such a high amount.

Voyager2002

shampain wrote:

Thats unbelievable.... so this person earns £50 an hour then do they?
£25 is way over the top....£5 yes that is ok... i still can't believe they are asking such a high amount.

Well, my colleague and I don't charge each other, but the point is that this is no longer a simple matter of a signature. And getting half an hour of anyone's time is likely to cost 25 pounds.

funky-footprints

I imagine they are doing it because there must be an awful lot of people out there who dont know people with high enough qualifications to sign them ? ? I think it is a good idea for them to follow doctors etc. However never realised the figure involved ! pretty steep !! thankgoodness I have a best mate whose a GP, and her dh is a dentist !

Find it strange however that by paying anyone to sign your passport they dont necessarily have to know you.

Op I understand your frustration that it is a special needs school and maybe you have enough battles........but it seems your school is following the route of others schools so why should one be different ? ?

emmaBZ

i took ours to local post office and he done it for free !

Turning_into_scrooge

My doctor only charges £10, £25 is a bit steep