Tweak existing UK digital ID scheme, don’t launch overlapping new one: Stakeholders
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# Tweak existing UK digital ID scheme, don’t launch overlapping new one: Stakeholders
Oct 6, 2025, 6:01 pm EDT | Chris Burt
Categories Biometrics News | Civil / National ID | Government Services
Observers and participants in the UK’s digital identity ecosystem are coming together in expressing that whether or not Right to Work checks are the appropriate mechanism for cutting back on illegal immigration, as proposed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a mandatory, government-issued digital ID is not.
They say the Digital Identity and Attributes Framework provides the basis to perform the same function (whether or not that function will have its intended effect), but without alienating the public and being consigned to history’s dustbin by the successive government.
Umazi CEO Cindy van Niekerk points out to Decrypt that under the current system, service providers and employers are often sent scans of ID documents like passports, which are often stored by there relying parties and could attract hackers looking to steal personal data. The observation raises the prospect that any digital ID could be better.
But around the industry, many believe the current moment is an opportunity for something much better than an improvement on the legacy paper-based system.
UK lawyer and digital identity expert Richard Oliphant points out that the DIATF and One Login represent a pair of voluntary digital ID schemes already in operation. His six-step plan for the UK government to fix its self-made mess starts with educating the public about those two schemes during the consultation period for a prospective new one. In a LinkedIn post, he suggests abandoning the mandatory ID plan, restricting One Login and the associated digital wallet to public services, and allowing DIATF-certified providers to store government-issued verifiable credentials (VCs) in their wallets. Those DIATF providers can fight it out in the private sector. His final recommendation for the government is to acknowle