Government drops plans for mandatory digital ID to work in UK

The government has dropped plans requiring workers to sign up to its digital ID scheme in order to prove their right to work in the UK.

By 2029, right to work checks will be done digitally – for example by using biometric passports – but registering with the new digital ID programme will be optional.

This marks a shift from last year when the government first announced the policy and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told an audience: “You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said “Good riddance. It was a terrible policy anyway.”

She said the move by Labour represented “another U-turn”.

The change of policy is the latest in a series of U-turns the government has made since it came to power – including climbdowns on welfare reforms, reducing winter fuel payments and inheritance tax for farmers.

When the government first announced the policy plan, it argued that mandatory digital ID for workers would make it easier to clamp down on immigrants working illegally.

The scheme, it is understood, will now deal less narrowly with immigration and the government will instead place more emphasis on the argument that digital ID can be a useful tool for the public when accessing public services.

Asked about the issue at an Institute for Government conference earlier on Tuesday, Darren Jones, the minister responsible for rolling out the policy, said it would be a “route to the digital transformation of customer-facing public services”.

He said a consultation would be launched “very shortly”, adding: “I’m confident this time next year the polling will be in a much better place on digital ID than it is today.”

The policy had attracted criticism since it was announced last September, with nearly three million people signing a parliamentary petition opposing the introduction of digital IDs.

There has also been nervousness among some Labour MPs over the compulsory aspect of the original proposal.

Whatever they think of the change to this specific policy, Labour MPs are growing increasingly frustrated with the government’s u-turns.

Some had already been wary of defending controversial government policies to their constituents because they feared that the policy would inevitably be reversed.

One furious Labour MP told the BBC last night that the latest U-turn was “an absolute car crash”, adding: “The boys at No 10 jumped into it with no thought, marched the PLP up the hill only to bottle it, take all the pain and no credit.”

The Liberal Democrats said the policy was “doomed to failure” from the start and called for “the billions of pounds earmarked for their mandatory digital ID scheme” to be spent “on the NHS and frontline policing instead”.

The party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson, Lisa Smart, said: “No 10 must be bulk ordering motion sickness tablets at this rate to cope with all their U-turns.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said in a post on X: “This is a victory for individual liberty against a ghastly, authoritarian government. Reform UK would scrap it altogether.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski welcomed the news on X, saying: “The government have U-turned on ID cards. Good.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to mandatory digital right to work checks.

“Currently right to work checks include a hodge podge of paper-based systems with no record of checks ever taking place. This is open to fraud and abuse.

“Digital ID will make everyday life easier for people, ensuring public services are more personal, joined-up, and effective, while also remaining inclusive.”

Employers already have to check if someone they want to hire has the right to work in the UK.

Since 2022, employers have been able to do checks on passport-holding British and Irish citizens using digital verification services certified by the government.

There is also a Home Office online scheme which verifies the status of some non-British or Irish citizens, whose immigration status is held electronically.

The details of how digital ID will work have yet to be set out but it is expected to be based on two government-built systems: Gov.uk One Login and Gov.uk Wallet.

Currently more than 12 million people have signed up to One Login, which can be used for services such as applying for a veteran card, cancelling a lost passport or managing a lasting power of attorney.

Gov.uk Wallet has not yet been launched but would allow people to store their digital ID on their smartphones.

The digital ID would include name, date of birth, nationality and residence status and a photo.