Physical ID, private sector alternatives pitched to save UK digital identity plan

The UK government’s plans for a national identification scheme have so far focused largely on online processes carried out with digital IDs. But a complete plan will have to include both in-person interactions and the many people who cannot or will not use a digital identity. Suggestions for what those plans might be have been shared by the AVPA and a junior government official, respectively.

‘Physical alternative’

Cabinet Office Junior Minister Josh Simons says the government is “considering options like a digitally enabled physical alternative for those without access to technology, as well as in-person onboarding support for those who struggle to engage digitally,” as quoted by PublicTechnology.

Simons was responding to a written parliamentary question from fellow Labour MP Gareth Snell on whether the government will consider using the Post Office to support the rollout of a national digital ID.

“This may include Post Offices but that decision has not yet been made and will depend on several different factors,” Simons said.

His answer aligns with the “Digital ID in the UK” research briefing for the House of Commons Library, which was updated this week and makes reference to a “physical alternative” for those without smartphones. Physical IDs were raised as a topic to address during the public consultation phase of the project in the explainer put out by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology at the end of September.

A glimpse of the practical through the in-person gap

Written evidence submitted by the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) to the Home Affairs Select Committee within the House of Commons suggests that in-person presentations of the digital ID have not even been considered yet by the government.

But to the AVPA, the in-person verification issue, the ability of the existing system to address it and the absence of information about what, if anything, the government intends to do about it, raises the larger question of why the public sector is involved in the first place.

A system has been used, and working effectively for a range of identity verifications and attribute checks, through the Digital Identities and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) ecosystem, the AVPA writes.

The group rubbishes the Tony Blair Institute’s claim that 83 percent of Britons prefer the government run the digital ID system, rather than the private sector by suggesting that the result was invited by the survey’s two preceding questions.

Instead of spending at least 1 to 2 billion pounds (approximately US$1.3 billion to $2.6 billion) over several years to create a parallel digital ID system to that already established in partnership with the private sector, it can avoid a public backlash that threatens to undermine the whole project. Instead, the AVPA recommends the government consult with the many digital ID experts in the UK, in a joint technical working group, and lean into a universal method for validating digital identities, whoever has issued them.

“We want to work in partnership with government. Our concern is that current policy signals a shift toward a large, centralized state-led identity system,” ADVP Chair David Crack tells Biometric Update. “That is a 20th-century approach to a 21st-century problem. The private sector has already spent a decade innovating faster and more effectively than any single government programme could. We share the same goals — but the implementation model matters.”

“We are asking Government to enable its credentials to be held in certified private sector wallets. This would achieve the policy goals faster, at lower cost, and with stronger privacy protections for individuals. It empowers people with choice. The concern is that Government currently appears to be positioning itself as a technology provider rather than a regulator — and that risks undermining the system’s trust, efficiency and long-term resilience.”

“At the end of the day the reality is simple: Government cannot out-innovate the market. But Government it can set the policy goals to shape the trust, set the governance and allow the private sector to flourish safely.”

Article Topics

AVPA  |  BritCard  |  digital ID  |  national ID  |  UK  |  UK digital ID