‘Hold your horses and don’t call it a card’: UK govt to digital ID petitioners

The UK government has responded to a petition calling for a commitment to not launch a national digital ID with a firm “no.”

A response from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to the petition, which had garnered 2.7 million signatures as of late evening UK time on October 2, promises a public consultation in the weeks ahead. It also casts the status of numerous businesses and their investments in supporting the UK’s digital ambitions into doubt.

“By the end of this Parliament, employers will have to check the new digital ID when conducting a ‘right to work’ check,” DSIT says.

There are currently more than 40 service providers certified for Right to Work checks under the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF). The government has previously suggested that its plans for GOV.UK still leave plenty of room for private sector roles, particularly around orchestration. But less than 20 percent of those certified for Right to Work qualify as orchestration service providers (OSPs).

Robin Tombs, co-founder and CEO of one of those DIATF-certified providers, Yoti, commented on the success of the private-sector issued credentials and expressed hope for clarity in a LinkedIn post.

The response from DSIT begins by explaining the rationale behind the move, in terms of first tackling illegal migration, then of “making people’s everyday lives easier and more secure,” and finally “driving growth.”  By way of clarification, the government says “the new digital ID will build on the GOV.UK One Login and the GOV.UK Wallet.”

DSIT also notes: “This is not a card.”

The Department says it will consult with employers, trade unions, civil society “and other stakeholders” on the new system’s design, and then bring forward legislation to back it.

At the recent Labour Party conference, Prime Minister Kier Starmer did not talk about his digital ID plans. But his former communications adviser Peter Hyman said at a meeting during the conference that the plan “will be dead in the water in six months’ time” if the approach to communicating about it is not corrected, The Register reports.

Here come the exceptions

Another type of consultation has already begun, with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn holding discussions with the Irish Government about how the plan will apply there.

He acknowledged the possibility that Ireland could issue its own digital ID, and expressed optimism that the system could be applied in a way that aligns with the Good Friday Agreement and the Common Travel Area.

Lindsay de Sausmarez, President of Guernsey’s Policy and Resources Committee says “no decision” has been made yet on whether the digital ID plans apply in the self-governing Crown dependency, the BBC reports.

Article Topics

BritCard  |  Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT)  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  identity orchestration  |  UK digital ID  |  Yoti