UK gov’t plans tour to fix argument to public on national digital identity

UK government officials have admitted that the initial attempt to communicate a new policy for introducing national digital identity was flawed, and ministers will do penance in the form of a tour across the nation to engage with the public.

The public consultation planned for 2026 will include meetings between government MPs and voters to go beyond the normal consultation process, PublicTechnology reports.

The public consultation was originally slated to begin this year, but has been delayed by Cabinet Office taking over the process from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), according to the report.

And the government has a lot of explaining to do. PublicTechnology points out that the government is aware that it did not make a convincing enough case for how the digital ID will help reduce illegal immigration.

Subsequent communication about public services fueled claims of a sprawling, overreaching and costly big-government project.

Ping Identity GTM CTO Alex Laurie notes in a column for Tech Monitor that the 1.8 billion pound (roughly US$2.4 billion) cost figure estimated by the OBR should be measured against the £200 million fraud costs the UK economy every year. Then there is the loss of productivity from all the time and effort wasted on inefficient, manual and paper-based identity checks for everything from home rentals to public service access.

Laurie, as a professional, moves on quickly to the real issues around database and data sharing architecture, data minimization and cryptography. But his main point will bear both repeating and further explanation.

The government has said it doesn’t recognize the OBR’s cost figure, because not enough about the system’s design has been decided.

As Frank Hersey of MLex points out on LinkedIn, Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Josh Simons said explicitly during a Monday Parliamentary Committee hearing that “we are building this vital public good for our country, not outsourcing it and not leaving it to private companies.”

Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones told digital identity industry representatives including TechUK, the Association of Digital Verification Professionals (ADVP) and the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) last week that the consultation will be fully open, and that no final decisions have yet been made.

Someone is off-message.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  GOV.UK Wallet  |  government services  |  UK  |  UK digital ID