Unpacking UK government’s Digital ID announcement
Do today’s announcements on digital ID meet public expectations, are they deliverable, and will they work?
In 2024, Careful Industries conducted nationally representative polling to understand what the UK thinks about digital ID. Our research found broad support for a voluntary ID programme, in which the government backed the public at the moments in life that matter most, such as starting a new job and moving home.
Overall our research showed:
There is public appetite for a single, voluntary form of ID to make life easier. Of all the options we tested, compulsory digital ID was least popular with all age groups.
Trust in the NHS is extremely high, whereas trust in DWP and the Home Office varies significantly among different demographics.
There are significant generational divides between older and younger generations: in particular, older respondents - who are least likely to use digital ID - are more interested in law and order, while younger people are more committed to balancing fairness and convenience.
Black and Asian people have higher levels of concern than white people about the impact of technologies on freedom and on the potential of digital ID to result in discrimination and exclusion.
Greater efficiency in public services did not come out in the research as a high priority for the general public, who instead want to see other improvements in their daily lives.
Chart showing favourability of different ID solutions, segmented by age
Fast forward a year, and the Prime Minister has announced in the Telegraph that,
This Government will make a new, free-of-charge, digital ID that will be mandatory for the right to work by the end of this Parliament.
According to the Institute for Government, the next election must be called before August 2029, which leaves slightly less than four years to roll out an ambitious, compulsory digital programme to all adults of working age. ONS figures show there are currently 43 million people aged 16-64 in the UK, and 5.5 million registered employers, who will also need to be onboarded to use the new processes.
What has the government announced?
A fairly detailed set of commitments have been shared today in a press release on Gov.uk. The main difference between today’s announcement and previous announcements is that “Digital ID will be mandatory for Right to Work checks by the end of the Parliament.” This is a change to previous commitments to a voluntary, or opt-in, identity scheme.
Purpose
The programme announced in the press release aims to accomplish two very different things:
1) “curb the prospect of work for illegal migrants, a significant factor driving small boat crossings”
and
2) “make it easier for the public to access the services they are entitled to”
The second commitment is very similar to the purpose of Gov.uk One Login, which is already being rolled out as a single sign-on for government services, and is part of a slate of identity services in development, including the (currently) “entirely optional” Gov.uk wallet, that will allow users to add documents such as their driving license a wallet app on their phone.
It is not, however, clear how today’s announcements will sit with the Digital Verification Services trust framework, which enables non-governmental organisations and businesses to provide identity services. (There has already been some back and forth between the government and private-sector companies providing digital verification to understand what the impact of the Gov.uk wallet will be on the market-driven solutions. It seems likely this might be revived.)
How will it work?
The press release says:
Building on the work already underway to roll out a GOV.UK digital wallet, the digital ID will sit on people’s phones, alongside the digital driving licence which the government has already announced plans to introduce.
I take this to mean that holders will be issued with the digital equivalent of an identity card, that will be held in their Gov.uk digital wallet - much the same as any bank cards or train tickets currently in the Apple or Google Wallet on your smartphone. This means that people who need to prove their right to work in the UK will need to have registered with Gov.uk One Login and have a smartphone that is able to download the Gov.uk wallet.
The press release also promises “state-of-the-art encryption” and “best-in-class security”, but does not give information on whether and how information collected will be stored, which government departments or third-parties will have access to it, the approach to privacy that will be taken, or the kind of legal protections that will be put in place to safeguard personal data. Significantly, it cannot be taken for granted that the current technical architecture of the Gov.uk wallet will form the basis of the future wallet; it also seems important to seek clarity on how this will relate to the third-party Trust Framework set out in the recently passed Data (Use and Access) Act and what kind of oversight and transparency measures will be in place.
One concern reflected in our research was the potential for digital ID to lead to overcredentialisation, with respondents who identified as Black and Asian reporting particular concern about digital ID enabling over-reach of police powers. According to government figures released in 2024, Black people are 5 times more likely than white people to be subject to stop and search by the UK police. This concern is addressed in the press release, which says “there will be no requirement for individuals to carry their ID or be asked to produce it”, but there is no detail of the necessary legal measures that will be put in place to enshrine this protection or prevent the future abuse of digital ID.
The press release also indicates the kinds of data that will be shown and collected - “name, date of birth, information on nationality or residency status, and a photo - as the basis for biometric security – just like an eVisa or Passport”. There will be a further consultation to determine whether other fields, including address, are necessary. There is an important difference between using a form of digital ID to verify who a person is and building a service that stores information about that person, with each option having different implications for privacy and security.
So, the tl;dr is that people of working age will be required to download a virtual card that will be held in a virtual wallet on a smartphone.
What about people who aren’t digitally included?
There are many different measures of digital inclusion that are relevant to this. Owning a modern smartphone, being able to log in to the necessary websites, and downloading the right apps are all relevant.
The Digital Poverty Alliance estimates that:
roughly 13-19 million (or 24-34% of) people in the UK aged 16+ were in digital poverty in 2022 due to being deprived on at least one dimension of digital deprivation – i.e., lacking either essential digital skills, appropriate devices, a home broadband connection, the regular actualisation of getting online, or a combination of these factors.
Ofcom figures from 2024 show that 4% of adults do not have smartphones, with those aged 55+ living in low-income households least likely to have a device. With pension age set to rise to 67, this group will need particular support if they are to stay in work.
Current identity solutions, such as a driving license or passport, require the payment of a fee; while a digital ID solution is free to download, the baseline costs that need to be covered to obtain one are significantly higher than the £34 cost of a provisional driving license. The press release commits to consultation with digitally excluded groups, but does not provide detail of what kind of alternative might be provided. It is critical that the roll out of digital ID does not place a new barrier for access to work for people with low or no income or low digital skills and government must address this risk urgently.
Will it work?
This is a very ambitious programme to deliver in four years — particularly given the welcome commitments to consultation and inclusive design. And the government has set itself a particularly difficult challenge: working out exactly what form this digital ID will take will be hard enough, building it to a satisfactory level of quality so that it is secure, reliable and robust enough to support the livelihoods of more than 40m adults and 5.5m businesses is also a non-trivial task. But the hardest part will be rolling it out — ensuring that adoption is easy and trustworthy for everyone who needs it will require a huge communications and customer support effort.
And that is just the software.
What seems very unlikely, however, is that any form of digital ID will reduce the number of people entering the UK on small boats.
The press release speaks of the “pull factor” of the illegal employment economy, but employers who operate in the shadow economy have not been waiting for a useful app to download. Tackling unlawful employers is not something that can be achieved by asking people of working age to log into their smartphones; it requires effective enforcement of existing laws.
If the business case for investment in compulsory digital ID is predicated on reducing migration to the UK on small boats, then measurable success will be hard to realise — and potentially impossible within the short timelines set out by the Prime Minister. Giving more people the ability to verify their identity is undoubtedly important in a democracy, and many digitally confident people will enjoy the increased convenience of a wallet-based ID card, but that is not the same thing as creating harder borders.
The UK already has a passport system and right to work checks; putting an app on those won’t make them more effective, and is unlikely to return measurable results before campaigning for the next election begins in earnest.
