Whitehall can't cost digital ID until it decides how to build it
- Reference: 1773221414
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/03/11/digital_id_cost/
- Source link:
"At this stage of development, it is not possible to definitively estimate the cost to government from developing and running the digital ID system," said the Cabinet Office on page 83 of the 91-page [1]consultation document , adding that yet-to-be-taken policy decisions "will materially impact the costs involved."
In September last year, prime minister Keir Starmer [2]announced his plans for a new digital identity system that people would have to use when taking a new job by the end of the current Parliament. After opposition, [3]including three million people signing a parliamentary petition against the scheme, he [4]scrapped this compulsory element in January . The consultation says that instead, employers will have to carry out digital right-to-work checks, but may use passports or eVisas as well as digital identities.
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The government plans that digital IDs will be available at no charge to anyone who wants one by the end of this Parliament, which must end no later than July 2029. Most people will store them as verifiable credentials on smartphones or tablets, although the government is looking at physical alternatives for those without devices including random number generators, QR codes, and smart ID cards. The system will build on the GOV.UK One Login system, which is already used to access more than 122 services.
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Organizations will check an ID digitally as well as viewing a photo of the holder. They will get the minimum information needed, with retailers told whether someone wanting to buy alcohol is over 18, rather than seeing everything on a physical document.
Digital IDs will not include biological sex or gender, with the consultation saying these are not needed for access to most public services, and will probably not include addresses although the latter is up for discussion. They will hold full name, date of birth, nationality, a high-resolution facial image, a unique number, and in some cases other data such as whether the person has an authorized representative.
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"Our baseline is to start with the fewest data points possible, enough to simply prove you are who you say you are and nothing more – but if more is needed to support the uses you and other members of the public want, like proving your address, that's something we'll explore," chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones writes in the document's foreword.
Jones appears to have picked up responsibility for digital identity following the resignation of Josh Simons earlier this month after [9]investigations into his actions running a think tank . This is despite [10]James Frith last week taking Simons' place as the junior minister working for both the Cabinet Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
[11]UK digital ID goes in-house, government swears it isn't an ID card
[12]Marching orders delayed: Veterans' Digital ID off to a slow start
[13]Whitehall rejects £1.8B digital ID price tag – but won't say what it will cost
[14]Digital ID is now less about illegal working, more about rummaging through drawers
The consultation says the government wants digital IDs to be useful, inclusive, and trusted, "something people will want to get, rather than something they must have." The scheme is not compulsory, nor will it replace other government-issued documents, and the police will get no new powers to demand to see it.
"However, we expect it will, in time, reduce reliance on physical documents as people choose to apply for and use the digital ID," the consultation document adds.
The consultation discusses uses including applying for benefits and pensions but not healthcare. Earlier this week, [15]The Times reported that health secretary Wes Streeting refused to provide NHS data for the project with his department focusing on its existing app for the NHS in England.
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It also said that education secretary Bridget Phillipson resisted integrating data on children's special educational needs. This does not appear in the document, although the consultation does discuss whether the minimum age should be 16, 13, or even from birth.
Following the written consultation, which closes on May 5, the government will set up a "People's Panel on Digital ID" by recruiting 100 to 120 people at random. The group will discuss the plans and develop recommendations, completing this work on June 21. The government will then respond to the consultation and publish legislation. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/making-public-services-work-for-you-with-your-digital-identity
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/26/uk_digital_id_confirmed/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/03/uk_digital_id_clarity/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/14/uk_digital_id_climbdown/
[5] 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=2abFLOOI0TcvP7AoCm79BqQAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%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=44abFLOOI0TcvP7AoCm79BqQAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] 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=33abFLOOI0TcvP7AoCm79BqQAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] 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=44abFLOOI0TcvP7AoCm79BqQAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/18/digital_id_minister_probe/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/04/new_digital_identity_minister/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/26/digital_id_costs/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/23/slow_start_for_veterans_digital/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/09/uk_digital_id_costs/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/digital_id_rebrand/
[15] https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-digital-id-cabinet-hkcgc6qpl
[16] 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=33abFLOOI0TcvP7AoCm79BqQAAAIo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It is, but gov fever dreams are hard to shift. This has been a Labour give fever dream since the days of T&G B.
Even once they've costed it, they'll inevitably give the contract to the usual suspects. So nobody knows what the total cost will be, except several multiples of the original quote.
Government digital schemes are a joke
I've mentioned on here before how I have two government IDs (somehow) and I can't do anything with either of them, because one failed some stupid validation and now I can't use the other because of the failed validation.
So here is another example.
My dad is now 80 and has had to renew his license.
So I tried to do it online.
Went through half of the the DVLA (or whatever it's fucking called this week), then it said he needed to use his Government id. I said fuck that as he doesn't have an email address and guess what I can't use mine see above.
So he did it via post.
It's got lost in the post.
It's now expired.
Tried again online, same trauma. So I set up an email address he'll never use. Did all the date of birth, then it asks for photo id. Well his passport long expired and his driving license has got lost.
Ok try other methods, so enter all the bank details and now he needs to use his Government One Login "WTF!", so try setting that up, and yet again needs photo id, but no option this time to use another method.
Great news though, he can go to the Post Office and show the photo ID he doesn't have and the one login account we can't set up.
He's now back to attempting to get hold of them by phone.
How the fuck is some who doesn't have access to someone tech literate supposed to deal with this shit.
GOVERNMENT DIGITAL SCHEMES ARE A FUCKING JOKE.
Re: Government digital schemes are a joke
Not for nothing was DVLA looked on as a dumping ground in Yes Minister. I've been through the same process of after 80 renewal. Getting them to accept a photograph as meeting their standards was a nightmare.
Address?
It will be interetsing to know how they intend to prove an address for everyone - in either direction.
At the minute proving you live somewhere is as simple as faking a couple of utility bills and all the digital ID check will prove is that the last time you updated the Govt. database you putatively lived at that address.
Re: Address?
Forget address - how do you prove you're you?
Birth certificate? It says clear across the bottom that it's not proof of identity. You can make up any name you please, do a search on freebmd to find someone of that name, drill though to the link to the GRO and order a copy of their birth certificate assuming that the birth is within the period freebmd's index covers (complete up to 1993 partial to 1996 according to the web site).
Passport? Note everyone has a passport.
NI number? Just copy someone else's. How would anyone check that it referred to whoever's claiming it does.
A couple of decades ago I was involved in a projects which required verifying ID. The task was farmed out to someone else - Experian, Equifax or the like. What they said had to be accepted. Who knows what they did to prove it?
The more personal information companies are forced to retain...
...the more they will lose to hacks.
Starmer's inept and talentless regime had no capacity for pissing us off due to our broken post-Brexit economy, yet they have persistently done so from the word go, with the OSA, digital ID and endless other BS. They are a depressing omnishambles and a gift to Reform.
Re: The more personal information companies are forced to retain...
You mean sell then claim they've been hacked.
"Our baseline is to start with the fewest data points possible, enough to simply prove you are who you say you are"
Once they've worked out exactly what that means and how to determine it they'll have made a start. It'll be hard work. It involves thinking.
It involves thinking.
Those loud bangs you here are the sounds of government lackeys all over Westminster trying to think with the result that their heads overheat and explode.
This is still a thing ?
Thought it was written of as a pointless new gov fever dream