The government is planning a nationwide digital identity system, to confirm people’s right to live and work in the UK. The scheme is expected to be app based and each digital ID is likely to carry key personal details: a holder’s immigration or residency status, name, date of birth, nationality and a photograph. Employers would have to use this system to check whether someone can work legally, replacing reliance on National Insurance numbers and many paper documents.
The right to work
Officials argue that this will make it harder for people without status to secure jobs, thereby reducing the incentive for irregular migration. A photo linked digital record would be more secure than current checks, which can be undermined by borrowed or stolen NI numbers.
The surveillance society
Critics compare the proposal to Britain’s CCTV network, one of the most extensive in the world. What’s more, camera surveillance is not limited to major urban areas. Even though the rate of CCTV installation Gloucester, for example, is below the national average, there are hundreds of cameras sited across the county, in addition to thousands of commercial and domestic CCTV networks installed by contractors such as //apmfireandsecurity.com/cctv-installation/cctv-installation-gloucester/.
Opponents argue that, just as cameras make it possible to observe people’s movements in public spaces, a compulsory digital ID could allow routine monitoring of how citizens work, travel and access services, through digital traces created every time the ID is checked.
The rollout, planned for 2028, is not expected to apply retrospectively; existing workers would need digital ID only when changing jobs.
