The A to Z of ID cards

R is for Roll out

The rolling out of ID cards to British citizens starts with workers at London City and Manchester Airport in Autumn 2009, where new workers will be forced to get a card. Cards will be introduced for other groups of "critical workers" at a later stage.

Several cities around the UK are in the running to be possible testers of the scheme, with Manchester rumoured to be one of the cities under consideration as a trial site.

From late 2009/early 2010 students will be able to apply for a card before the cards are made available to the wider UK public from 2011.