UC asking for birth certificates ?

My colleague went to the Cornwall UC Migration meeting in Truro between DWP, Citizens Advice, Cornwall Council and charities.

The DWP rep recommended that claimants without photo ID pay to get an official copy of their birth certificate. I have questioned this as I don’t see why DWP can’t use their biographical check facility. Apart from the fact that the biographical check uses DWP staff resource which I expect is the real reason.

I can’t even see birth certificates on the current ID list here - am I looking in the right place?
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-verify-your-identity-for-universal-credit

Yes you are…and they are not there ! The DWP for as long as I can remember have accepted birth certificates as ID. There is a move towards digital ID verification and I expect that they want to reduce footfall in Jobcentres when it suits them, though demand hard copies of photo ID for voting which penalises the less well off. The DWP manager at the FinCap meeting recommended a birth certificate where necessary during UC migration. But why should the claimant fork out £20 for one when the staff can do a biographical check using the legacy record on CIS Searchlight?
https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2017-0556/70_Identity_verification_and_standards_of_evidence_v4.0.pdf

https://livingwithdata.org/project/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DJ-DWP-CYI.pdf