The figures were released as it was announced Manchester would be the first test area for Britons wanting ID cards.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would provide security and convenience for people looking to protect their identity.
ID cards latest
The cards, which store fingerprint information as well as a facial scan, would replace the "hotch-potch" of different IDs we use today, she said.
Official estimates put the net benefits of the scheme at £6bn over 30 years, including savings to individuals and businesses.
Mancunians will be able to apply for cards from Autumn this year before they go nationwide in 2012.
Post offices and chemists are in talks with ministers to collect the biometric data.
The card itself will cost £30, and it is estimated anyone wanting a card or passport will pay about the same again to have their biometric data taken.
In a speech to business leaders, Ms Smith said: "At its heart, the National Identity Scheme is based on a simple concept.
"A small card that will allow you to unlock the complex transactions of everyday life, and will allow you to prove - quickly and easily, to anyone you wish - that you are who you say you are."
Estimates put the price to the taxpayer of biometric ID cards and passports for UK citizens at £4,945m, up from £4,785m.
The cost of ID cards for foreign nationals has also risen, by more than £50m to £379m.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "The cost of the ID card scheme will rocket by £160 million.
"The rising cost to the public purse is reason enough for scrapping ID cards, but if you consider that the scheme won't prevent terrorist attacks, illegal immigration, identity fraud or human trafficking, Jacqui Smith becomes even more ridiculous in her pursuit of such an unpopular policy."
Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of NO2ID, said: "Five years in, the admitted Home Office costs are over £5 billion - and they're suspiciously silent on fees.
"Anyone who registers now has been conned into signing away their privacy for life AND giving the Government a blank cheque."
A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service denied costs had increased.
He said: "Costs have not increased and since the last cost report in November, we have actually seen a net decrease of £15m to introduce the National Identity Service (NIS) for British citizens over the period October 2008 to October 2018.
"The majority of costs for the delivery of the NIS will be recovered through fees."
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Showing comments 1 to 23 and replies | View All
Mark,Radcliffe. (07/05/2009 at 08:22)
johnnyboy, Ashton-u-Lyne, Lancashire (07/05/2009 at 08:22)
johnnyboy, Ashton-u-Lyne, Lancashire (07/05/2009 at 08:27)
Jay B, oldham (07/05/2009 at 08:36)
id cards are just another one of the wasteful items this current government will be remembered for!
johnnyboy, Ashton-u-Lyne, Lancashire (07/05/2009 at 08:46)
Horatio Dogsbody, Flixton (07/05/2009 at 10:07)
We all know of the governments record with IT projects.
The NHS project is five times over budget, two years behind schedule and is still not working correctly.
The Home Office already admits that the cost of issuing ID cards to foreigh nationals has increased by more than sevenfold, so a fivefold overall cost overrun does not look to be too wide of the mark as a starting point.
So, where they say it will cost the nation £5,000,000,000 read £25,000,000,000 and counting.
Then there is validity. The old paper driving licence was valid until one was seventy. The replacement photocard driving licences are only valid for ten years - look at the date on the front - then have to be renewed, with a new mugshot, for a fee.
How long will this all-singing all-dancing ID card be valid for before one has to fork out yet another sixty quid (or the price at the time) to renew it? Ten years? Five years? One year?
It is a tax by another name. A tax on existance. If your name is not on their database then you do not exist.
nyb, ex manc (07/05/2009 at 10:11)
Count Alucard, Whitby Bay (07/05/2009 at 10:50)
Will it be like the BBC television licence? if you refuse to have one - they jail you.
Brock, Hulme (07/05/2009 at 12:26)
Frostee, Oldham (07/05/2009 at 12:45)
PW, Manchester (07/05/2009 at 13:01)
As for this Id card thing, they can stuff it!
Black Flag (07/05/2009 at 13:08)
Seriously? I could understand people who hadn't thought things through putting that viewpoint forward two or three years ago, but given the amount of data loss and abuse that has happened since then, there really is no excuse for thinking that way.
Count Alucard, Whitby Bay (07/05/2009 at 13:59)
Red_Lion_Blue, didsbury (07/05/2009 at 14:16)
There is always need for an outlet to express opposition. Anyone at any peaceful protest in recent years will have seen increased surveillance and disruption from police. ID cards are one of a number of measures trying to shut down such opposition, just as they were able to in Orwell’s ‘1984’.
i have created a manchester says no to id cards group on a social networking site 100 people have signed up within 2 hours.
Theowolfe (07/05/2009 at 14:26)
That is a pretty lame defence of an authoritarian move like ID cards. Apart from the loss of data pointed out by Black Flag, there is some more fundamental reasons why this is a bad idea.
Along with the DNA database, it turns every citizen into a suspect, who must prove their innocence of any wrongdoing or "leading a blameless existence," as Angela Epstein put it on the radio yesterday, to be allowed to go about their own business.
Not only does it change the relationship between the individual and the State, it gives the Police another justification for stopping people and demanding to see their 'papers.'
The stinking kipper, pinned under the table (07/05/2009 at 14:32)
JoeStalin,Gorton (07/05/2009 at 15:10)
The 7/7 London bombers were British citizens who made no attempt to hide their ID. Why would they, they were about to die. The Madrid bombers may have been carrying an ID card where Spain have a scheme in place. Did it make any difference? Nope.
As for the "nothing to hide" brigade, I bet if someone stares into your front room you get annoyed as much as the rest of us. I have "nothing to hide" but that doesn't mean I want my individuality and personal identity managed by an unknown private company acting on behalf of a government I loathe and detest.
minority report, Manchester (07/05/2009 at 16:49)
This government's ID Card system is for much more than verifying identity. Not only is it used in China and the Middle East, it breaks all of the 10 principles set by the government's own Gateway Review - such as it should be merely for verifying identity, it should not involve government, it should not involve a database of personal details and other rules to protect people from big brother.
Your ironic pseudonym is appropriate for this subject. Like Gordon Brown, Jacqui Smith and co, Stalin also saw innocent people as a threat and thought it was justified to spy on, store data on, track, intrude on, control and arrest innocent citizens; just in case.
Raj Sarin, whitefield manchester (07/05/2009 at 19:49)
Shamas (08/05/2009 at 10:58)
Joe Pub, Manchester (08/05/2009 at 21:46)
Dale Linn, Martinsville, VA, USA (09/05/2009 at 22:19)
Cant this same thing be done with the information systems you already have?? Say, like the Motor Vehicle License? .....or perhaps a Voter Registration Card? There is no need t re invent the Wheel.
gulliblenotme, bury (11/05/2009 at 18:41)