The LSE identity project. House of Lords : All party briefing : identity fraud

Last week, the Home Office published new figures, suggesting that the annual cost to the UK economy of identity fraud was £1.7 billion.1 The Home Office argued that “One way we can reduce the potential for identity fraud is to introduce a national identity card, backed by a National Identity Register, using biometric technology to crack down on multiple identities and secure personal data on behalf of the individual”. In chapter 8 of our June 2005 main report,2 we wrote at length about identity fraud and noted our concerns with the methodology used by the Government to measure identity fraud. We warned that focussing on ID cards as the key solution to identity fraud could actually make the problem worse. Our research status report published in January 2006, gave further evidence in support of our position.