Passport renewal for elderly mother

noclaf

My mother's passport has expired, she is 81 and lives in a care home. Sadly it's unlikely she will ever travel again though she would of course love to do so, both her cognitive and physical state means it's not viable or a good idea. 

Would there be any reason not to renew  my mothers passport or would it be fairly important to get this done i.e: everyone should have a valid passport as a given?

Has anyone had to go through this process and is it made any easier for elderly e.g: do I still need a recent photo of my mother for the passport?

Keep_pedalling

Frankly it would just be a waste of money, it is highly unlikely that she will have to provide evidence of her ID while residing in care.

DullGreyGuy

noclaf said:

Would there be any reason not to renew  my mothers passport or would it be fairly important to get this done i.e: everyone should have a valid passport as a given?

Has anyone had to go through this process and is it made any easier for elderly e.g: do I still need a recent photo of my mother for the passport?

The main reason not to is to save the money. 

It's very difficult to get precise numbers of people with a valid passport as clearly there are those brits that live abroad and similarly a non-british person may have come here on a passport that has now expired. It's generally estimated it's about 80% of UK residents with a valid passport compared to circa 40% of US residents. So she'd be in a minority but far from unique. 

It really comes down to:

1) Is there any realistic chance of her travelling? Is there family overseas that could cause an emergency trip for her?

2) Does she realistically need government issued photo ID for anything?

It sounds like both of those are likely to be a no and so why do it?

With some government IDs its possible to use a photo off another ID (eg driving license) if it is recent enough but I alway forget which way round it is. I am assuming she doesn't hold anything else like a driving license anyway so it's probably a moot point and so a photo is required. Its unlikely that ti needs to be witnessed though, as long as by looking at the old and new photo you can reasonably tell it's the same person. 

badmemory

Hopefully you have a power of attorney so she will not need a passport.  If she needs to open accounts without & with a different bank you may struggle.

RAS

Is it possible to get a Senior Bus Pass, often accepted as photo ID?

friolento

If she is 100% certain she won't need to ever prove her ID again, it would be a waste of money to renew it. If she is not certain, £82.50 insurance for the next 10 years - - - £8.25 a year - - - seems a bargain.

friolento

RAS said:

Is it possible to get a Senior Bus Pass, often accepted as photo ID?

It will get accepted at the cinema but not, for example, by a bank

RAS

Based on other posts here, used in conjunction with other documents, it can be used to cover the "photo ID" bit. 

DullGreyGuy

RAS said:

Based on other posts here, used in conjunction with other documents, it can be used to cover the "photo ID" bit. 

The issue is that the laws around KYC/money laundering etc are not that prescriptive to actually give a definitive list of items that an entity must accept. It leaves it to the entity to decide what's appropriate (which avoids having to change the law frequently) and face the consequences if the courts dont think a Beano Fan Club ID is appropriate.

Having a random look at HSBC they dont include it as an acceptable option, but given their previous fines and corrective actions its probably no surprise their list may be tighter than others.

noclaf

Thanks all, very helpful responses.

I am a deputy for my mother via CoP so manage all her finances/health etc

Re. Id for bank accounts, my mother has a bank account for which I am the listed deputy and interestingly I opened a second account recently and they accepted a old buss pass Id for her photo evidence...I was both happy and rather surprised as I'm sure not all banks would accept it but all good!

We do have family abroad albeit most are here in the UK and to be honest I wouldn't allow her to travel, just not a good idea based on her health/physical state. 

It sounds like on balance not worthwhile renewing, I posted this thread in case there was something key/important that I wasn't aware of but I can't think of anything for now so thanks again.

She stopped driving quite a few years back and wouldn't be allowed to anyway due to  various medical issues including partial sight as well as significant cognitive impairment.

Pollycat

My Mum and Dad both lived to 80 without ever having a passport.
Neither of them had a photo driving licence either.