Digital ID providers are placated (again) as anticipation builds towards government consultation

Yesterday (2 December 2025) was the second time this year that a confused and – in some quarters – angry digital identity sector was given the opportunity to sit down with the government and ask: Just what the hell is going on?

The first time, in May, followed digital ID providers working on commercial age verification apps finding out without warning that the government was releasing its own digital wallet that would be used for age verification.

The then technology secretary Peter Kyle reassured industry representatives that, “We are empowering the market, not sidelining it,” and apologised for “any negative impact”.

So it was doubly unsurprising that, when prime minister Keir Starmer announced plans for a national “digital ID card” that would directly compete with private sector offerings and be mandatory for conducting right to work checks – thus also causing an enormous backlash about digital identity generally from the public and civil society – the industry once more reacted with barely contained fury.

This time, placatory duties fell to the PM’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, the minister landed with the policy responsibility for digital ID, to ease fears.

During the meeting, which involved industry bodies such as TechUK and the Association of Digital Verification Professionals (ADVP), along with several supplier executives, Jones stressed that no decisions have been made – the consultation taking place in the new year will determine what approach will work best and will listen to the private sector.

“I think they genuinely want to do the right thing and are prepared to listen. We need to give them credit for that and see what happens,” ADVP chair David Crack told Computer Weekly.

In a statement, the ADVP added: “Darren Jones made something refreshingly clear: the slate is clean. No decisions made. No path locked in. A full consultation will open in the new year – with one simple aim: find what truly works best for the country.”

More meetings will follow next year. “Government wants concrete use cases, real-world wins, and ideas that move the needle. [It] feels like the right moment for the ecosystem to step up, share boldly, and shape something that genuinely benefits the whole UK,” said the ADVP.

Crack added, “They are interested in outcomes – if there are cheaper and quicker routes to achieve those outcomes with the private sector then that is something the consultation will consider.”

Another supplier executive concurred, saying, “There is a sense that government wants time to reflect on what they are learning and we will then get something more concrete.”

Once more, industry representatives left cautiously reassured. But government rhetoric to date means concerns will continue until government actions demonstrate otherwise.

Meanwhile, there were a couple of other notable occurrences this week in the world of UK digital identity:

The Digital Identity & Attributes Trust Framework is to be renamed as the DVS Trust Framework – DVS being digital verification services, the phraseology used in the newly statutory regulations that cover the sector.

And the government has said that it “does not recognise” the figure of £1.8bn cited as the cost of the digital ID programme by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as part of its Autumn Budget submission

Speaking to MPs on the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Emran Mian, permanent secretary at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, gave MPs a similar message to that offered by Jones – no decisions will be made until after the consultation.

“The next step is a detailed consultation on the design choices about digital identity … Only once we’ve consulted will we be really clear on what it is we have to build,” said Mian.

“The OBR used a figure of £1.8bn – that figure must have been taken from very early estimates of the cost. It’s not a figure we recognise now … We’ve not pinned down a cost yet because all the key design choices will be made through the consultation process.”

Whatever the government has said so far on digital identity, and whatever amounts have been invested by the private sector into developing digital ID apps, it’s clear that the forthcoming consultation will establish the roadmap for how digital identity will be used in the UK for many years to come.