Under plans in a white paper on birth registration, both mothers and fathers would have to be included on a birth certificate unless it was impossible or unreasonable to do so.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said up to 50,000 births were registered in the UK each year without a father’s name.
Making it compulsory for both parents to be named on birth certificates would help to protect vulnerable mothers and make sure fathers take responsibility for their children, he said.
Duncan Fisher, chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute, said: “This marks a significant step in ensuring the commitment of fathers to be involved in their child’s life from the outset.”
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