UK Asks Citizens for Feedback on Digital ID Plans

The UK government has launched a consultation on its digital ID program. It wants to gather feedback on how it could be used to improve public services.

The national consultation offers the public the opportunity to have their say on how best to use digital IDs, with the government pointing to use cases including managing free childcare payments and filing tax returns. Alongside the consultation, the government will release images and videos of a working prototype of the system, showing how people could log in to an app to prove who they are. It stated this would end a reliance on multiple logins and paper documents to access the support they need.

Called Government by app, the service is described as being designed to be as easy and secure as online banking, and to remove the frustration of endless phone calls and complicated printed forms. The system is part of a wider government plan to reform public services, modernize public sector technology, and replace legacy systems. For example, it noted the country’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency currently processes 45,000 letters a day, and its tax office, HMRC, handles more than 100,000 calls daily.

Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Prime Minister, said the government wants to make public services work for its citizens. “Supermarkets, banks, and shops have all chosen to move their services online because it delivers a better customer experience and value for money, and other countries like Estonia fully digitised public services years ago. We need to catch up.”