£1,000: price of failing to update ID card details

People who move house will have to update their ID card within three months or face fines of up to £1,000, draft regulations about the controversial scheme published yesterday revealed.

Bailiffs could be sent in to collect fines in extreme cases say officials, who are proposing civil penalties for people who do not keep their ID records up to date. But fines will not be issued if cardholders eventually comply, the Home Office said.

Under the plans, those who enrol for an ID card will have to pay for a new card if they change their name - for example after getting married - and will have to tell officials if their appearance drastically changes - such as following an accident - or if their fingerprints are damaged by injury.

But documents released yesterday only cap the cost of an ID card at £30 until 2010, suggesting the cost may rise before the scheme is extended to the general public.

The details are contained in draft rules needed to begin issuing the first wave of ID cards for British nationals next year. Airport workers at Manchester and London City airports will be enrolled from next autumn under a trial project designed to pave the way for the national ID Cards scheme.

The rules include measures forcing air-side workers at the two airports to enrol for an ID card when they complete the criminal records check needed to get an airport security card. A voluntary scheme for young people will follow.

Ministers expect to roll out a “voluntary” ID card scheme for the general public from 2012. But yesterday's document makes it clear that people will be forced to enrol on the national ID database when they apply for a passport after that date.

Home Office officials said the ID card scheme would have a string of exemptions for people in unusual circumstances.

Transgender applicants will be able to have two cards - one male and one female - while they complete a sex change, while homeless people may be able to register their address as a hostel, a relative's home or even a bench or archway where they are usually found.

Addresses will be recorded on the national identity register, but will not appear on the face of ID cards, meaning people will be able to change their address by telephone.

More profound changes, such as changes of name, or changes to fingerprints or appearance, may need a visit to Identity and Passport Service officials.

Draft guidelines for penalties published yesterday insist that fines “are not intended to be punitive or revenue-raising” while officials stressed that they would not make spot checks on cardholders.

Isabella Sankey, policy officer for the civil rights group Liberty, said: “The many ways we can be fined in order to fund this disastrous scheme will be a blow to families struggling to make ends meet. These cards won't keep us safe from terrorism, crime or illegal immigration but they will cost our privacy and purses dearly.”

Phil Booth, of campaign group No2ID, added: “The state wants you to give lots of details about yourself and pay for the privilege.”

A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service insisted the “it will be in an individual's best interests for their information to be accurate”.

He said: "We would always encourage people to update their information voluntarily but in some cases would apply a basic penalty of £125.

"This would only increase if someone deliberately or repeatedly failed to update their details over a prolonged period of time. The penalty would normally be cancelled as soon as the person has updated their information."