The minister overseeing the development of the United Kingdom’s £1.8 billion digital identity system has said that by the next general election it will be used only in a limited number of cases—chiefly to pay vehicle tax and verify the right to work.
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, told reporters on Tuesday that in the longer term he would like the app to serve a far wider range of purposes—from accessing welfare benefits to confirming eligibility to vote. But he said the rollout of most of those functions would probably be postponed until the next parliament.
Presenting the government’s consultation on the project, Jones acknowledged that the system’s practical use at the outset would be fairly limited—even though its annual cost is comparable to the entire budget of the Cabinet Office last year.
“By the end of this parliamentary term, some basic functions will be in place—perhaps paying vehicle tax and handling certain administrative procedures. Verification of the right to work will become available for those who choose to use it from 2029.
“But the main objective—when it comes to things such as the childcare system, information on pension savings or data held by HMRC—is work for the next parliament. We will need time first to get the system itself up and running,” he said.
Jones also said that over the next eight weeks the government will conduct a public consultation to determine how citizens would like to use a digital identity and what concerns its introduction may raise.
When the project was announced last year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially said the digital ID would become a mandatory document for verifying the right to work—in an effort to prevent migrants from being employed illegally.
Since then, the concept of the project has shifted noticeably. Ministers have abandoned the idea of making the digital ID mandatory and now emphasize its role in improving the efficiency of public services.
According to Jones, the new system could also help address an unfairness whereby access to certain government services tends to be secured first by the most persistent citizens—those with the patience and stamina to navigate the complexities of the state bureaucracy.
Darren Jones.
AFP
“At the moment, people who have the time, the resources or simply the persistence often end up at the front of the queue—because they keep pressing their case and eventually become rather annoying to the person on the other end of the phone.
The whole idea of this system is to make access simple, convenient and equally available to everyone,” he said.
As part of the government consultation, a so-called “citizens’ panel” of 100 people randomly selected from across the country will be formed. At the end of the discussions, members of the group will be able to vote on whether the system should be introduced.
Ministers say the project has drawn inspiration from countries such as Estonia, where a single digital identity allows citizens to access medical records, sign documents online, claim benefits and pay taxes.
In the United Kingdom, however, the initial rollout will be far more limited. The government fears a backlash from voters—polls show that only 32% of citizens support the idea, while 40% oppose it.
Jones said that if future governments wished to expand the use of the digital ID beyond the functions that will be in place by the next election, they would have to return to parliament for approval.
“I intend to build in a mechanism that means the government—and any future government—will have to come back to parliament for scrutiny, checks and approval for every new service they may wish to add to the app,” he said.