Job applicants to face ID card checks

The Home Office is working with employers to encourage them to use ID cards to verify the identities of their staff. Some of the UK's biggest organisations are looking at using national ID cards to verify, with the central population register, the identity of all new employees as part of the recruitment process. This Home Office-convened group includes employers such as the Royal Mail, the BBC and BP.

The vast government-run database supporting the ID card system could also be tied into companies' payroll and the benefits networks. Serving employees could also face identity checks against the information stored on the register.

One of the first applications will be to use ID cards to automate checks against the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), potentially reducing the turnaround time from four months to 72 hours. For instance the Royal Mail currently takes about six weeks to check job applicants' criminal records and immigration status.

On the Government's current timetable, the legislation will be passed later this year, and the first voluntary cards will be issued in 2008. Over the following five years, ministers would assess the case for making the card compulsory, based on how many people had chosen to take them up.