UK minister ducks cost questions on nationwide digital ID scheme
- Reference: 1763719212
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/21/uk_digital_id_costs_uncertain/
- Source link:
Speaking to a House of Commons select committee this week, minister for digital government and data Ian Murray defended the government's decision not to publish budgeted costs of its plans to build digital IDs for every citizen.
UK politicians to draft outage blueprint after AWS calamity [1]READ MORE
In September, [2]the government announced plans to issue all legal residents a digital identity by August 2029, which in the first instance is set to be used to prove eligibility to work. Prime minister Keir Starmer said digital IDs were "an enormous opportunity for the UK." As well as making it tougher to work illegally, they would also "offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly," he said.
The plan is to use smartphones to store digital IDs and build on existing work to introduce a government digital wallet including driving licenses.
Appearing before the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee this week, Murray said budgets for the project had yet to be determined, although the technical delivery will be managed by the Government Digital Service (GDS), within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
[3]
"In terms of the cost [it is to] be determined by what the system looks like, and that can only really be measured after the consultation has been closed and analyzed," he said.
[4]
[5]
Murray said those initial costs would come from the DSIT settlement in the spending review period, although other departments will be expected to contribute as use cases are produced.
"The cost of the entire system will depend on what the system looks like," he said. "Digital inclusion, all the bits that are attached to digital ID, and also the use cases from other government departments in terms of both the cost of having the system, the cost of running the system, and the savings that are subsequently made from having a much more efficient system."
[6]
Kit Malthouse, Conservative MP and committee member, questioned whether departments expected to contribute would be able to protect that funding.
[7]Digital ID is now less about illegal working, more about rummaging through drawers
[8]UK calls up Armed Forces veterans for digital ID soft launch
[9]UK government says digital ID won't be compulsory – honest
[10]Explain digital ID or watch it fizzle out, UK PM Starmer told
"We may be in a position then where the home secretary says, 'Right, you're asking for £500 million for this thing that may yield savings. But you know what? That's £500 million. I'd have to take from policing or border security, so I don't want your service. Thanks very much. Go and look elsewhere.' The delivery of it will be down effectively to negotiation with departments," he said.
Murray responded that the digital ID scheme was "the prime ministerial priority, and therefore GDS, in terms of digital ID, will build the system under the monitoring and policy development of the Cabinet Office."
Meanwhile, the minister said his department had decided not to appoint another chief digital officer (CDO) to replace the outgoing Joanna Davinson, who was interim CDO from December 2024 to September 2025, a post she had [11]previously held on a permanent basis. The responsibilities would now become part of the role of the permanent secretary, the most senior civil servant in the department.
"Keeping these issues at permanent secretary level is the way to get a cross-government approach to it," he said.
[12]
However, committee chair Chi Onwurah questioned whether the permanent secretary would necessarily have the experience of digital transformation needed for the CDO role.
Murray also explained that the government's "AI roadmap" had been delayed owing to [13]the change in the technology minister in September . ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/uk_govt_outage_plan/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/26/uk_digital_id_confirmed/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSBGUrbPNtDd8fYctJVQFwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSBGUrbPNtDd8fYctJVQFwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSBGUrbPNtDd8fYctJVQFwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSBGUrbPNtDd8fYctJVQFwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/digital_id_rebrand/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/20/uk_armed_forces_id/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/03/uk_digital_id_clarity/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/01/digital_id_labour_conference/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/11/uk_chief_digital_officer_departs/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSBGUrbPNtDd8fYctJVQFwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/08/uk_cabinet_reshuffle_tech/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Papers please!
Anybody know when the next predicted apocalypse is? I've had enough.
Kerching!
it is estimated that about 84,000 phones are stolen annually how much fun will this be to maintain on top of the massive costs people like Capita or Fujitsu will charge
Thing with computer systems is , they are scalable , and this is just a database.
Theres lots of commercial programs that hold a database of information , perhaps for a company's customers for example . These are developed and sold to businesses , whop buy them at affordable prices .
But put the the words "national" or "Government I.T " in to it and those prices will multiply by thousands
There only 70 million people in the UK , so we're talking a database with only 70 million records .
I could probably knock something up in Excel if you dont want to pay for an Oracle license
re: I could probably knock something up in Excel
And just how scalable is that then?
Oracle/DB2/SQL-Server are not the only databases capable of handling this size of application. Excel is not one of those.
What happens when they're wrong?
Buttle/Tuttle is just the start.
Many people are known by several different names in different contexts. Often due to limitations of the database - eg their "actual" name is longer or uses characters the database doesn't support.
A little under half of all people change their name at least once in their life.
While the vast majority do that in church or court, these records are written on paper or vellum, scattered across the country and incomplete - especially for changes that happened a couple of decades ago.
And a lot are not recorded anywhere, because under Common Law your name is what you say it is.
Typical government
"Committee hears departments may have to stump up cash before savings materialize"
This being investment. Something the gov is lousy at. They can spend the money, and it will go over budget, and the savings wont exist but will instead cost more and the government will call it investment.
The gov has invested greatly in this country and continue to do so. At the same time they are spending wildly more than we can afford, call pissing away less money than the previous government 'austerity' and yet costs keep rising and services getting worse.
We would save more money if they dont do these stupid schemes, cut down public sector spending and cut themselves down to size. Instead it keeps growing and consuming beyond what we can afford.
Think of a very big number
Then multiply it by your favourite number, add 45%, three judicial enquiries, a quango and multiple system upgrades.
The next Windrush scandal, except that everyone gets to take part
The Home Office is already trying, and failing, to implement a digital ID system for millions of foreign permanent residents living in the UK. It's called the eVisa system, and it is riddled with flaws. The campaign group the3million has recently published a detailed report on the failings of the eVisa system (https://the3million.org.uk/digital-status-crisis) which should be required reading for anyone advocating for a nationwide digital ID system.
On the plus side, given the track record of large, complex government IT projects, this one is never likely to get off the ground.