Digital IDs: What’s the Problem?

The new UK government digital ID scheme has sparked fierce debate. Critics warn of a surveillance state. But in truth, your personal data is already stored digitally at banks, government services, and private organisations every time you submit scans of passports, utility bills or bank statements.

When you send a scan of your passport or a utility bill, it doesn’t just vanish after use. Organisations store it on servers, in databases, and in backups. You rarely know how long it stays there or who can access it.

A digital identity could change that. Instead of sending copies, you’d permit a one-time verification from a secure system. Services could validate what they need—age, address, right to work—without retaining full documents.

Pros of a UK Digital ID

• Reduced duplication — your data lives in one verified system, not dozens of document stores.
• Faster onboarding — instant checks instead of waiting hours/days for document reviews.
• Lower identity fraud — cryptographic credential checks rather than insecure file copies.
• User control — you decide what is shared and when.

Cons of a UK Digital ID

• Centralised risk — a breach could affect many people at once.
• Privacy and tracking — fears over misuse or inference from usage data.
• Digital divide — those without phones or tech literacy may be excluded.
• Function creep — optional today, but could become mandatory in more contexts.

The Bigger Picture

We already live in a world of distributed digital identity. A government digital ID doesn’t invent a risk—it brings transparency and governance to it. The real stakes lie in who controls the system, how consent is managed, and how failures are handled.

The UK has begun laying legal foundations: the Data (Use and Access) Act now gives statutory backing to Digital Verification Services (DVS). https://enablingdigitalidentity.blog.gov.uk/2025/06/20/uk-digital-identity-legislation-passes-another-important-milestone.

The government also published the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework, which defines standards and certification for identity services https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-digital-identity-and-attributes-trust-framework.

Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee is actively investigating digital ID’s risks and benefits https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/83/home-affairs-committee/news/207446/new-inquiry-harnessing-the-potential-of-new-forms-of-digital-id/.

And the rollout scheme itself was announced by the government in September 2025 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-digital-id-scheme-to-be-rolled-out-across-uk.