The UK government abandoned plans to make its national digital ID mandatory for right-to-work checks, a reversal confirmed around Jan. 13–14, 2026 after a sustained privacy backlash and a parliamentary petition that gathered nearly three million signatures.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had announced the compulsory scheme in September 2025 as a measure to curb illegal employment and streamline access to services. His initial framing — “You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that” — helped crystallize opposition, and civil liberties groups, technology firms and some Labour MPs mobilized quickly.
Civil-rights advocates including Big Brother Watch warned of concentrated surveillance risk and a single, attractive target for hackers. Industry players argued the policy threatened to crowd out private-sector digital identity solutions and stifle innovation. Opposition politicians amplified those concerns, and the volume of public protest rendered the compulsory design politically unsustainable.
What changes and what it means for checks
The government will keep digital right-to-work checks mandatory but will offer the state digital ID as an optional route when the scheme is rolled out. Officials said the national digital ID is expected to be introduced around 2029; that introduction and a public consultation will follow, and both are therefore future-stage decisions.
Digital identity providers welcomed the pivot, saying optionality preserves market choice and avoids creating a single government-controlled verification pathway. The government nonetheless reiterated its intention to develop a voluntary digital-ID framework for public-service access, citing aims to reduce identity theft and improve operational efficiency.
Investors, product teams and compliance officers will now focus on the forthcoming public consultation and the planned 2029 roll-out, which will test whether voluntary adoption can deliver efficiency gains without repeating the privacy and market-concentration concerns that prompted this policy U-turn.
Regulators and employers should prepare for continued mandatory right-to-work checks administered through multiple verification channels rather than a single, compulsory app.
