" the difference that having an ID card makes"

Usedtobeblonde

They would have made a real difference to me recently when I had to prove my identity to gift money.
I don’t have a passport or driving license anymore and had to jump through hoops to prove my identity.
I had to submit bank statements, utility bills and birth certificate which made me smile as that was in my maiden name, I expected to have to submit my marriage certificate but was never asked for that.

This is now common practice for major money transactions, including buying and selling a house.
In the past year we’ve had to do it 3 times for different reasons. I don’t know why, if you’ve done it once, you have to keep doing it. I might add, at a cost to you.

Forgot to add council tax bill to that list.

Doodledog

I'm on the fence about ID cards. On one hand, they would make many things easier - I recently wanted to get cash out of the bank, but my passport was expired and I don't have a driving licence, so it was a pain. I ended up transferring the money to my husband's account and he got it with his ID. An ID card might have helped with that, and the ability to do it relied on my having a husband with a separate account who I didn't mind knowing what I was doing - it's not a solution that would work for everyone.

On the other hand, if you look at how easy it was for Jews in Nazi Germany to be rounded up it's enough to show how dangerous centralised information can be in the wrong hands.

The ID we used most immediately after our arrival back in the UK were our National Insurance numbers. They must be pretty centralised.
Interestingly our French bank were also required to send NI numbers to the French tax office to confirm (presumably with HMRC) our fiscal change of residence. Our local bank were very helpful in negotiating the complexity of
re-establishing our tax residence.

They would have made a real difference to me recently when I had to prove my identity to gift money.
I don’t have a passport or driving license anymore and had to jump through hoops to prove my identity.
I had to submit bank statements, utility bills and birth certificate which made me smile as that was in my maiden name, I expected to have to submit my marriage certificate but was never asked for that.

The only real problem I have with ID cards is whether the government would be able to keep the information safe. In this time where it is possible to clone people's identities so easily - even sell their houses without them knowing - it would make proving your identity much easier, especially for those without a passport or driving licence. But of course with so much hacking it means that even IDs would not be safe, and all the information associated with them.

I already have retinal scans in my passport because it was issued in Washington, and would be perfectly happy to have an ID card with my retinal scan/fingerprints associated with it.

I'm on the fence about ID cards. On one hand, they would make many things easier - I recently wanted to get cash out of the bank, but my passport was expired and I don't have a driving licence, so it was a pain. I ended up transferring the money to my husband's account and he got it with his ID. An ID card might have helped with that, and the ability to do it relied on my having a husband with a separate account who I didn't mind knowing what I was doing - it's not a solution that would work for everyone.

On the other hand, if you look at how easy it was for Jews in Nazi Germany to be rounded up it's enough to show how dangerous centralised information can be in the wrong hands.

We lived in France for twenty years. When I was teaching English to the U3A, they were horrified that there were no ID cards, but thought school uniforms were an infringement of human rights!
ID cards were used when buying or renting homes, registering with doctors, tax offices, hospitals and schools, voting, starting bank accounts and all other official transactions.
We used our passports at first, then registered for Titre de Séjour cards to prove our right to permanent residence; compulsory after Brexit they included fingerprints and facial recognition. That makes forgeries pretty difficult. We got our first ones from the Préfecture, queueing with other migrants, with a dossier of papers. Our French friends got their cards locally at the Town Hall or Mairie.
I was stopped only once in a routine check of papers when driving and had to show my ID.
I have never understood why some people seem to find the concept of ID cards threatening. Now back permanently in the UK I was very pleased to exchange my French licence for a UK one and have easy identification. My husband's disability has meant he can no longer hold a licence, ID is more complicated for him here.

*have a debit card but not a credit card and must explain here, apparently debit cards don’t always count as ID.

I don’t mind using an ID card. I don’t drive so don’t have a licence and have a debit but a credit card, that means the only ID I have is a passport and when it expires I doubt I will renew because we don’t travel abroad anymore.

I have no objection to having an ID card, but if anyone really wants to they will use forgeries.

I meant to say we have to prove to them over there that we are still alive to get our pension. Over there there would be no need.

In the Netherlands where we had an ID card we would get reminders from the Town Hall when driving licences, passports etc needed to be renewed.
If we moved to a different area we had to notify them of this and register in the new area.
If we wanted copies of our birth certificate etc we would just ask for it there.

Now we have a pension over there we have to pay a solicitor to verify that here. Over there we would just go to the town hall for proof.

Our local area knew exactly how many people of every nationality lived there.
It is much more bureaucratic but made life easier.
There was no need for a 10 yearly census.

We had no problem with it and would welcome it here.

I think it would be quicker and easier and you wouldn’t have to go through establishing and proving ID every time other than putting in ID card number .