Digital ID has the potential to make all our lives easier and put more power and control in the hands of people, from booking appointments or applying for benefits online, to proving your age, or opening bank accounts. As a property solicitor for over 20 years I saw the ID checks we had to carry out on clients to prevent money laundering becoming more strict, but clients rarely had easy access to things like paper utility bills. This then meant additional expense with online ID checks having to be carried out.
A form of digital ID would certainly have made many people’s lives easier when buying or selling a home. However, I also understand that you have some concerns about data security and civil liberties, and I will try and address your concerns below.
In time, we hope that this programme will help people to seamlessly access a range of public and private sector services, with the aim of making all our everyday lives easier and more secure. Initially, the government has proposed that digital ID be used for right to work checks only. By the end of this parliament, employers will be required to conduct digital right to work checks using the new digital ID.
This means people will only need digital ID to prove their right to work, for example when starting a new job. Therefore, it will not be mandatory for pensioners to have digital ID. In the UK you already need proof of ID to work legally, and so the focus of this policy is to streamline and digitise the form of ID that will be required.
There is no silver bullet to solving illegal migration, but it is clear that unscrupulous criminals are claiming the UK labour market is easy to cheat when seeking to profit from offering dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK. Unfortunately, we do know that sometimes people fake identification documents, or share national insurance numbers, in order to work in the UK.
That is why digital ID is so important, because it will be an official form of photo ID that every person who wants to work in the UK will be required to show their employer. At the moment, employers do conduct right to work checks, but they can take time and cost over £10 per check, our system would aim to make that much easier and cheaper for employers and remove the anxiety over a potential employee providing a fake document.
The government has considered evidence from Estonia, where there is a high level of control retained by individual citizens over what parts of the digital ID can be seen by which services, and also India, where a digital ID system has transformed people being able to receive payments they are entitled to in the most remote parts of the country.
Thank you for sharing your concerns over data security and centralised data storage, and I agree with that you that ensuring the government follows the highest data security standards is essential. The government has said privacy will be put first at every step, using encryption, authentication and decentralising data storage.
There is even evidence that digital ID credentials could reduce identity theft risks by limiting unnecessary exposure of personal details (for instance, only relevant information is shared in any given use case). Unlike physical IDs, if a digital ID is lost or stolen it can be quickly revoked, updated and reissued.
In future people could find it useful for other things that make their everyday lives easier. The new digital ID will build on the work of GOV.UK One Login and the GOV.UK Wallet and help to transform public services. For example, digital ID could allow people to access services like benefits and tax records without needing to remember multiple logins or provide physical documents. International examples show how beneficial digital ID can be. For instance, Estonia’s system reportedly saves each citizen hours every month by streamlining unnecessary bureaucracy, and the move to becoming a digital society has saved 1-2% of GDP for the country, reducing the burden on taxpayers.
It is vital that digital ID is inclusive, that is why the government is launching a public consultation to work closely with employers, trade unions, civil society groups and other stakeholders, to co-design the programme. After this consultation has concluded, the government will bring forward primary legislation. At this point, I will scrutinise the legislation carefully with colleagues and debate it in the House of Commons, which will be an opportunity for my colleagues and I to raise any concerns that we have. There will then be further scrutiny in the House of Lords before the legislation returns to the commons for a final vote.