Why so expensive to get ID in the UK? Why no free national identity cards?

eskbanker

ColdIron said:

Beachcomber372 said:

Lots of young people may not even have those

But they will have soon, it's part of becoming an adult

You can't be a child forever

Beachcomber372 said:

My partner and 16,19 and 21 year old sons need ID for opening bank accounts.

Out of curiosity, do the adults already have bank accounts?

boingy

DavidT67 said:

Beachcomber372 said:

My partner and 16,19 and 21 year old sons need ID for opening bank accounts. Proving their identity is very difficult so we've decided to apply for passports for them even though we have no intention of going abroad. All the costs of getting 4 passports is going going to cost about £450 and they will need renewing every 10 years at more cost. How can people on a low income be expected to pay so much just to prove who they are to do basic things like opening a bank account, voting etc.. Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

Apply for provisional driving licenses, less expensive than passports.  It doesn't matter if you have no intent to learn to drive.

In that list above, a provisional licence only counts as proof of address not proof of ID (no, I don't know why either!)

DullGreyGuy

boingy said:

DavidT67 said:

Beachcomber372 said:

My partner and 16,19 and 21 year old sons need ID for opening bank accounts. Proving their identity is very difficult so we've decided to apply for passports for them even though we have no intention of going abroad. All the costs of getting 4 passports is going going to cost about £450 and they will need renewing every 10 years at more cost. How can people on a low income be expected to pay so much just to prove who they are to do basic things like opening a bank account, voting etc.. Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

Apply for provisional driving licenses, less expensive than passports.  It doesn't matter if you have no intent to learn to drive.

In that list above, a provisional licence only counts as proof of address not proof of ID (no, I don't know why either!)

Depends on the company, HSBC accept it as proof of ID

born_again

LinLui said:

Beachcomber372 said:

Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

You genuinely think that any UK government would give you something for free?

We all get a  NI number is free 🤣
Would be simple to go round schools & add a photo to the newly issued ones as photo ID or for them to upload a picture online.👍

MattMattMattUK

Beachcomber372 said:

My partner and 16,19 and 21 year old sons need ID for opening bank accounts. Proving their identity is very difficult so we've decided to apply for passports for them even though we have no intention of going abroad. All the costs of getting 4 passports is going going to cost about £450 and they will need renewing every 10 years at more cost. How can people on a low income be expected to pay so much just to prove who they are to do basic things like opening a bank account, voting etc.. Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

The cost of a first adult passport is £88.50, that is hardly unreasonable and works out at £8.85 per year.

The reason that we do not have national ID cards as a segment of the electorate are continually against it for irrational reasons. Every country in the EU charges a similar fee for their passports, with the cost for their ID cards ranging from €10-150. 

eskbanker

born_again said:

LinLui said:

Beachcomber372 said:

Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

You genuinely think that any UK government would give you something for free?

We all get a  NI number is free 🤣
Would be simple to go round schools & add a photo to the newly issued ones as photo ID or for them to upload a picture online.👍

You put the 'crying laughing' emoji in the wrong place - there should be a lengthy string of them after the second sentence ("Would be simple...."), which is where the real comedy is!

MattMattMattUK

Beachcomber372 said:

LinLui said:

Beachcomber372 said:

Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

You genuinely think that any UK government would give you something for free?

I pay my taxes,  National Insurance, council tax etc...

Most people are not net contributors, they cost the state more than they pay in.

Where do you expect the £10 billion or more a year it would cost the government to run an ID card system? 

gt94sss2

Beachcomber372 said:

My partner and 16,19 and 21 year old sons need ID for opening bank accounts. Proving their identity is very difficult so we've decided to apply for passports for them even though we have no intention of going abroad. All the costs of getting 4 passports is going going to cost about £450 and they will need renewing every 10 years at more cost. How can people on a low income be expected to pay so much just to prove who they are to do basic things like opening a bank account, voting etc.. Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

As others have said, banks will accept a wide range of documents - not just passports.

If you don't have any that they specify, they will consider others. 

Also, a lot of checks are now done electronically, so worth getting registered on the electoral roll of not already on it.

Introducing identify cards are not a popular idea in the UK. They are not traditional in the UK and while introduced during WW2, were scrapped afterwards due to public disquiet.

The last Labour government wanted to introduce them but had to drop the idea. Having said that, their concept of id cards involved linking dozens of databases together.

In the rest of Europe, they are not generally used/invasive as was proposed here.

MattMattMattUK

gt94sss2 said:

Beachcomber372 said:

My partner and 16,19 and 21 year old sons need ID for opening bank accounts. Proving their identity is very difficult so we've decided to apply for passports for them even though we have no intention of going abroad. All the costs of getting 4 passports is going going to cost about £450 and they will need renewing every 10 years at more cost. How can people on a low income be expected to pay so much just to prove who they are to do basic things like opening a bank account, voting etc.. Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

As others have said, banks will accept a wide range of documents - not just passports.

If you don't have any that they specify, they will consider others. 

Also, a lot of checks are now done electronically, so worth getting registered on the electoral roll of not already on it.

Introducing identify cards are not a popular idea in the UK. They are not traditional in the UK and while introduced during WW2, were scrapped afterwards due to public disquiet.

The last Labour government wanted to introduce them but had to drop the idea. Having said that, their concept of id cards involved linking dozens of databases together.

In the rest of Europe, they are not generally used/invasive as was proposed here.

In most of Europe you need them to function in civil society, in France they are required to open bank accounts and access healthcare for example. By both European and international standards the UK is a huge outlier in not having ID cards.

gt94sss2

MattMattMattUK said:

gt94sss2 said:

Beachcomber372 said:

My partner and 16,19 and 21 year old sons need ID for opening bank accounts. Proving their identity is very difficult so we've decided to apply for passports for them even though we have no intention of going abroad. All the costs of getting 4 passports is going going to cost about £450 and they will need renewing every 10 years at more cost. How can people on a low income be expected to pay so much just to prove who they are to do basic things like opening a bank account, voting etc.. Why aren't all UK citizens issued a free National Idenity Card?

As others have said, banks will accept a wide range of documents - not just passports.

If you don't have any that they specify, they will consider others. 

Also, a lot of checks are now done electronically, so worth getting registered on the electoral roll of not already on it.

Introducing identify cards are not a popular idea in the UK. They are not traditional in the UK and while introduced during WW2, were scrapped afterwards due to public disquiet.

The last Labour government wanted to introduce them but had to drop the idea. Having said that, their concept of id cards involved linking dozens of databases together.

In the rest of Europe, they are not generally used/invasive as was proposed here.

In most of Europe you need them to function in civil society, in France they are required to open bank accounts and access healthcare for example. By both European and international standards the UK is a huge outlier in not having ID cards.

Yes, but they don't generally have all the databases behind the ID card as was proposed here