Overview
- Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee, in a report published Tuesday, said the government’s rushed launch that tied digital ID to mandatory right‑to‑work checks destroyed public trust.
- Ministers dropped the compulsory element in January, then ran an eight‑week consultation from March 10 to May 5 and signalled a Digital Access to Services Bill in the King’s Speech to set the legal framework.
- MPs called for clear objectives, a detailed implementation roadmap, strong privacy protections and formal scrutiny by Parliament, along with an external oversight board and deeper engagement with industry.
- The committee questioned government delivery capacity after repeated IT failures and unclear costs, warning that changes to employment checks could disadvantage people without passports or digital IDs if safeguards are weak.
- Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch says the government has spent about £672,000 on adverts for the scheme, while media reports cite polling and a large petition that suggest public support has fallen.