A ROW over a birth certificate saw a woman and her young son threatened with being kicked out of temporary accommodation because she couldn’t prove her nationality.

Sarah Edmonds, 23, was born in Basildon, but faced being kicked out of her room in Rylands Hostel, Wickford, because she couldn’t prove it.

She has been on Basildon Council’s housing register for three years and couldn’t understand what she and son Jake, aged four, had done wrong.

Basildon Council has now agreed to review the case after Miss Edmonds was able to present her full birth certificate.

Miss Edmonds said: “It makes me feel really angry and unhappy. We have had to get rid of most of our stuff to move into the hostel and Jake was crying every night at first saying he wanted to go home.

“Then I got a letter saying I shouldn’t be here. We have already been on the homeless register once before, so they have my details. They also have my National Insurance number. If I wasn’t from this country, I don’t think I would have one of those.

“I handed in my birth certificate three times since November and they never asked for a full birth certificate because I would have brought it in. It’s not like I don’t pay my bills. My rent is never late, but it’s getting out of hand.”

Miss Edmonds said she went to the council with her full birth certificate on the day she got the letter, on April 8, which told her to leave by May 5.

A Basildon Council spokesman said: “Miss Edmonds was issued with a not eligible decision because she failed to provide a copy of her full birth certificate on numerous occasions. A copy of her full birth certificate was received after the date of the decision.

“The decision has been overturned and the case returned to the homelessness officer to investigate.”