UK digital ID consultation advances to 120-member People’s Panel

The UK’s digital ecosystem is still digesting the government’s public consultation on digital ID, and what can and should be drawn from responses. The King’s Speech indicated that a bill is on the way. But first, the People’s Panel must assemble to ensure everyone’s interests are being addressed.

A recent webinar from the Open Data Institute (ODI) covers key recommendations from the consultation, as well as insights from ODI research and practical work on digital identity and data infrastructure, and a look at unresolved challenges and how to solve them.

Simeon Hanfling, deputy director for insights and engagement in the UK Cabinet Office’s Digital ID Task Force, identifies interoperability, governance and inclusion as major challenges. But he says there remain opportunities for continued engagement and collaboration to help shape the future of digital ID in the UK. The closing of the consultation merely marks the completion of stage one of the first major step in the rollout – and shows the government at a markedly different place than it was when the digital ID plan was first announced.

UK digital ID policy goes there and back again 

Hanfling notes that, since initial announcements indicated that digital ID would be mandatory, framing it as a vehicle for immigration and Right to Work checks, the “policy’s gone on a bit of a journey.”

“Where we ended up with the consultation document is something that looks pretty different. It is a voluntary scheme, now. And it is also, in the consultation document, framed very heavily around public services, rather than solely being around right to work checks and tackling immigration.”

He says the “three words that everything in the consultation hangs off,” are trusted, useful and inclusive. “Those are the big priorities that we in government are thinking about.”

With phase 1.1 in the can, the government is set to launch 1.2, a “deliberative democracy exercise” it calls the People’s Panel – “120 people, who have basically been selected from across the UK as a sort of demographically representative sample size,” who will convene and hash out what everyone thinks about digital ID. “

“The idea is they represent the whole of the UK, and will bring that diverse perspective to the process. Obviously a really important part for the People’s Panel is, it’s not the government telling people what’s happening. It’s going to be a really open process. I don’t have any idea what we’re going to conclude.

Taken together, the responses from the public consultation and the findings or recommendations of the People’s Panel will constitute phase one in the digital ID plan.

No comment on whether private providers are included

The next step is a digital ID bill, which was mentioned in the King’s Speech. Hanfling says the hope is that it will be introduced shortly after the summer, “as soon as sort of parliamentary time allows.”

In the meantime, the consultation process itself is facing questions, with some listeners casting doubt on the legitimacy of the People’s Panel in particular. Hanfling concedes that this type of participatory democracy is more common in his home of Northern Ireland, and may be unfamiliar to the English. On the inclusivity front, the government promises “something that works for everyone across the population.”

He also emphasizes repeatedly that the point of the consultation and the People’s Panel is to inform a policy that has not yet been written. “The whole purpose is to give us a sense of public opinion and an evidence base for how people would like digital ID to be used.”

On the question of wallets, and specifically the role of private sector digital ID providers certified under the Digital Verification Services trust framework, Hanfling is evasive. “I’m afraid when it comes to the specifics of how and where the ID will be stored, that is still something we’re looking at.” But, he says, the idea would be to store your government ID in your government wallet.

Could it be in other places as well? Answers Hanfling, “I’m not sure there’s much more I can say at this stage.”

This response should refresh concern among DVS trust framework-certified digital ID providers and their representatives at the Association of Digital Verification Professionals (ADVP), who have raised red flags about what the government wallet implies for private providers since the GOV.UK wallet scheme was announced in 2025. The issue has been kicked back and forth between ministers and forums enough that, in light of Hanfling’s comments, it looks to be stalling until its own app answers the question on its behalf.

The UK digital ID industry has already warned of legal consequences if the government restricts access to its identity credentials such that they are not interoperable with DVS providers. Until the government says otherwise out loud, the sector can assume the sword of Damocles still dangles above, and keep lawyers on standby.

ODI warns of risks of building a shoddy system 

From the Open Data Institute’s (ODI) perspective, digital ID is only worth doing if it’s done right. “We support digital ID if it is designed in the public interest,” says Resham Kotecha, the ODI’s global head of policy. “Outcomes depend on architecture, not intent.”

The ODI supports data minimization and explicit user ownership of their data, and considers privacy and security to be non-negotiable. A digital ID scheme should use open standards and build for interoperability.

Poorly designed systems will “not just underperform, but could create long term harms that are hard to reverse.” The biggest risks are social, as people without devices, digital skills or documentation can be left behind. Privacy and trust are interconnected; to breach one is to breach the other. “People want transparency, they want to know who accesses their data, when and how and why.”

Finally, “identity systems should not create new concentrations of power.” The tech landscape is already a fiefdom, with mega corporations owning huge swaths of digital property. Digital ID must not add to their take. “We don’t want this to be a power grab by Big Tech,” Kotecha says.

ODI’s research tells them that people want convenience without surveillance, digital routes but the option to not take them, and a clear picture of what it all means. That has led to three pillars of recommendation. “Firstly, putting people in true control of their data. Sharing only what is necessary and giving people both visibility and choice”.

“We really want to make sure that non-digital routes are protected, so keeping alternatives generally available. One of the things we highlighted in our consultation was the concern that it would be voluntary in theory but mandatory in practice.”

“Thirdly, building trust from the start,” with strong standards, clear safeguards and independent oversight.

These pillars broadly support the idea that digital ID cannot become a mechanism for government control, nor for increased corporate control. Identity belongs to the people.

A digital ID so nice, it becomes part of your device

Also opting for a tripartite structure, Hanfling says a forthcoming digital ID bill will do three main things. “It’s going to set out the information that that digital ID credential will contain, and also provide, how it can be issued and maintained and stored. It is going to include some provisions that are necessary to help join up different bits of the public sector. And finally, it may also include some priority areas, for how it can be used across the public sector and possibly the wider economy as well.”

The government has set a deadline of the end 2029 for a full rollout of the digital ID system, by which “anyone who wants to use a digital ID should be able to do so.” He says the consultation aims toward designing something that sells itself. “I think the ideal scenario, is we design something which is so useful that people genuinely want to get it.”

It has a ways to go, and it can comfortably be said that any technical hurdle is minor compared to the political, social and legal challenges that lay ahead.

Article Topics

digital identity  |  digital verification service (DVS)  |  UK digital ID