Making public services work for you with your digital identity

Why we're consulting

The government intends to introduce a national digital ID (identity document) system. This will sit at the heart of next-generation digital public services in the UK and support innovation in the wider economy. It will help unlock entirely new ways to offer goods and services, and be key to making people's interactions with the state as efficient and useful as those they are accustomed to in the private sector, like online banking.

Background

We propose that three core principles will guide the design of the new digital ID. It must be:

We want people in the UK to shape the system and how it will work to ensure these objectives can be achieved. This is why we are running a wide-reaching and inclusive consultation to gather views and bring people together for discussion and debate, ultimately informing our future design choices.

To deliver the new system in the most cost-effective way possible, we will be expanding on existing government systems which are already successfully proving and verifying people's identities.

We are designing the new digital ID as something people will want to get, rather than something they must have. There will be no legal obligation for people to have or present the digital ID.

What we're consulting on

This consultation is structured as follows:

• Part 1: Our ambition introduces the current landscape before setting out our goals for the new system and the high-level benefits it will bring to people across the UK
• Part 2: Our approach describes how we are intending to build the digital ID system, harnessing the government's existing investments in developing a digital state. It explains the lifecycle of the digital ID - how it will be issued, where it will be stored and how it can be shared and checked
• Part 3: Useful discusses how the digital ID system has the potential to help us consistently identify people, so we can reduce bureaucracy and build more intuitive, efficient, and responsive public services in the future. It explains how it will be usable in the wider economy, and how we will make use of the digital ID to help tackle illegal working, so that only those with the right to work in the UK can do so. These chapters ask questions about what information should be included on the digital ID and how it could be most useful to you
• Part 4: Inclusive covers the government's plans for an ID and digital inclusion drive, to make the digital ID available and accessible to all. It discusses who will be eligible, including the minimum age for the digital ID. It invites views on what groups may need extra support, what their needs are and what alternative access routes could look like
• Part 5: Trusted includes information on how we will design the new system to ensure that everyone can have confidence that it will protect their data. It includes discussion of technical security measures, data protection standards and how people can exercise greater consent and control when using the digital ID. There is also a chapter on governance and oversight
• Part 6: Wider considerations outlines our early assessment of the potential impacts of the system and the value we believe it could have, from helping us build more intuitive, efficient, and responsive public services to reducing friction in the wider economy

Who we want to hear from

A national digital ID system is vital public infrastructure for the digital age. We want to draw on the expertise and wisdom of a wide range of stakeholders, from businesses to trade unions, technologists and civil society, as well as leaders in the public and private sectors who can use the digital ID to improve services for people in the UK. Key design decisions will only be taken after this consultation, to build the best possible product for everyone. We are grateful to everyone who takes the time to participate.

What happens next

This consultation will close on 5 May. Following this initial 8-week consultation period, we will be running a 'People's Panel for Digital ID' - an in-depth deliberative engagement process with a broadly UK representative sample of 100-120 individuals to discuss the policy in detail. Individuals will be selected through sortition (civic lottery). This process will conclude on 21 June, which will be the end of the formal consultation process.

Views shared in both these stages will be carefully considered by the government to develop next steps for the digital ID system. A formal government response to the consultation will be published once all stages of the consultation have concluded and all responses have been properly considered.

Consultation summary in BSL

Making public services work for you with your digital identity BSL summary