Job applicants to face ID card checks

Some of the UK's biggest organisations are looking at using national ID cards to verify the identity of all new employees as part of the recruitment process.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said in a parliamentary written answer that a consultation group of 35 employers have been consulted on the benefits of ID cards to the private sector.

The companies are also in talks with HM Revenue and Customs about tying identity checks into their payroll and human resource systems for checks on existing staff.

This Home Office-convened private sector ID card user group contains some of UK Plc's biggest employers, including the likes of BA, BAE Systems, Barclays, BBC, BP, BT, GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC, Pfizer, Procter and Gamble, Rolls-Royce, Royal Mail, Sainsbury's Tesco, Unilever and Vodafone.

The row over the cost of the ID card scheme – which academics at the London School of Economics claim could be as high as £19bn – also continues to rage on and the Home Office has admitted this week that it has already spent over £20m on the consultation and feasibility studies alone since November 2003.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has also estimated it will initially need 4,500 biometric card readers to verify ID card holders at a total cost of around £3.4m, although the LSE claims this figure could triple if more sophisticated card readers are needed.

DWP minister Stephen Timms said in a parliamentary written answer: "Detailed work is being undertaken on how the department will make use of checking the biometric identities of individuals. This will become clearer following further definition of the identity card scheme and DWP business requirements for interaction with the scheme are fully known."