INSidER

That depends who is paying. The current cost to the consumer that is being bandied about is about £80. The costs the House of Lords are complaining about is the cost to the tax payer which the LSE has calculated to be about £19bn. Having been involved in Barclays introduction of smart cards the £19bn figure feels absurdly high, but it starts to look possible when you consider 1) the card is a complex one and 2) the number of different databases/government departments they plan to bring together 3) the Government currently pay twice the average rate per day for consultants that the private sector does, 4) their inability to deliver computer projects Lets put £19bn into perspective - it is about 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product. The Government's own estimates out the figure at about £5.8bn which is less but in the same way that you might feel owing the bank that much was less but still too much. Interestingly the Government is only counting the cost to the home office of this project. This is like a car company that quotes economy figures that exclude the cost of petrol. Rog