Ministers hope scheme for 1.8 million people will show how technology works and ease privacy and security concerns
Former military personnel will be used to test and refine the government’s divisive digital ID scheme from Friday, when ministers make a smartphone-based veteran card available to 1.8 million people.
The proof of service, which in its current physical version gives access to charities, retail discounts and certain public services, will be the first of a series of official credentials the government wants to let people carry in a government app.
Digital driving licences will be in development by the end of this year and by the end of 2027, digital versions of every government-issued credential – including disclosure and barring checks – will be offered for voluntary use, officials said. Keir Starmer wants to make carrying a digital ID mandatory for anyone wanting or needing to prove their right to work in the UK by the end of this parliament.
That plan sparked cross-party opposition and a 2.9 million-signature petition calling for it to be dropped. But the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, this week complained of “scaremongering” and said digital IDs would not be used to track citizens and “there will be no pooling of people’s private information into a single, central dataset”.
