‘Big Tech’ fears and confusion dominate dialogue over UK digital ID scheme

The UK government’s digital ID consultation has begun, its detailed plan for the process finally revealed, but all that is clear so far is the extent and breadth of confusion around what is being proposed.

Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones announced the consultation plan on Tuesday, just as The Cabinet Office launched the process. The consultation includes a public survey and stakeholder feedback.

The government plans to ask 100 randomly selected Britains for their input as part of a “People’s Panel for Digital ID.”

“This consultation is going above and beyond to bring people in to all the big debates, and the knotty trade-offs too,” Jones said.

The government is likely to find that people don’t understand what the plan is, or how it can help individuals, according to a December report from Hippo Digital offering “Qualitative insights concerning the UK Digital Identity scheme.”

In-depth interviews revealed that participants admitted low understanding of the scheme, but believed it has a much wider scope than what has been communicated so far. The misconceptions were both rife and familiar, from the total replacement of physical IDs to the creation of a massive new centralized database. One participant admitted their opinion is largely informed by the failed attempt to introduce a Britcard, saying “as far as what’s changed compared to last time I don’t know.”

The original stated purpose of the digital ID, to disincentivize illegal immigration, “was widely dismissed as ‘political pandering’” by the interviewees.

Almost all interviewees have regularly used private sector digital wallets, but would still prefer to use a government-issued wallet, as their mistrust for the government does not match their mistrust for “big tech.”

The big take-away may therefore be for the private-sector providers, as much as government. If UK digital wallet providers can differentiate themselves from “big tech,” a term that generally applies to companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, not those on the list of providers certified under the DIATF (now “DVS”).

Clear on what?

The Labour government’s plan includes integrating health and education data and services with the digital ID, but the ministers responsible for those departments, Bridget Phillipson and Wes Streeting, respectively, have balked at their departments participating. Identity verification for special educational needs funding and NHS services would have to be handled separately from the national digital ID.

For now, the Health Department is continuing to focus on the use of the NHS app going forward, The Times reports.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) business plan for the year, in contrast, includes exploring “digital pass certificates” and integrating with the GOV.UK Wallet to make license issuance more efficient, in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

With the plan for the consultation coming out the same day as the consultation itself, the government should be prepared to hear from stakeholders, expert or otherwise, that the UK would rather develop, communicate and approve plans prior to implementing them.

The consultation closes May 5.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  DVLA  |  DVS Trust Framework  |  GOV.UK Wallet  |  government services  |  Hippo Digital  |  UK digital ID