An ID card that works on a smaller scale than the proposed National Identity Card and would be issued by councils may be more efficient, a think-tank has stated recently.

Such an "entitlement card" could both help fight the spread of identity fraud and also provide better access to services, according to the New Local Government Network (NLGN).

Services such as a local leisure centre, skills portal, public transport and so forth could be accessed using a local identity card.

The author of the report on the matter, Victoria Barbary, said: "Local entitlement cards have a number of benefits to citizens.

"They would help protect against identity fraud not only by giving local service users an accepted form of identification, but also by ensuring individuals retain ownership of their identity through a citizen’s account".

According to the NLGN, the entitlement card could have an access system similar to internet banking. Users would be assigned a pin number or a password and could access their accounts online.

The NLGN was founded in 1996 to attempt to make local government more accessible to the people that it serves.

Further skills portal information.