UK rolls back digital ID for work checks as privacy fears drive backlash

The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has dropped plans to make a centralized digital ID mandatory for workers, softening a flagship policy that would have required every employee to prove their right to work via a government‑issued credential rather than traditional documents like passports. 

The move follows months of backlash from critics, including UK Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe, Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage and other cross‑party politicians, civil liberties groups and campaigners. 

Opponents warned it risked building an “Orwellian nightmare,” centralizing sensitive data in a honeypot vulnerable to hacking, and mission creep into areas such as housing, banking and voting.

Almost three million people signed a parliamentary petition opposing digital ID cards. Lowe celebrated the policy shift in a video on X, saying he was off for “a very large drink to celebrate the demise of mandatory Digital ID,” while Farage said it was “a victory for individual liberty against a ghastly, authoritarian government.”

Demise of the UK’s digital ID. Source: Rupert Lowe

​UK waters down mandatory digital ID after public backlash

Officials now say digital right‑to‑work checks will remain mandatory, but when the UK’s digital ID scheme is introduced around 2029, it will be offered on an optional basis alongside alternative electronic documentation, rather than being imposed as the only route to employment verification. 

Related: Digital ID, CBDCs risk turning US into ‘surveillance state,’ lawmaker says

That partial rollback highlights how public unease over tying basic rights like work to a single government‑run identifier is reshaping policy, echoing wider debates over central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the European Central Bank’s digital euro, where both civil society groups and some lawmakers have pushed for hard privacy guarantees rather than blanket traceability.

Digital euro and EU digital ID explore privacy‑preserving designs

As the UK softens its stance, the European Union is moving ahead with its own digital identity framework and digital euro plans, but has explored using zero‑knowledge proofs so citizens can prove attributes (such as age or residency) without exposing all underlying personal data.

These types of measures, along with decentralized identity technologies and privacy‑preserving tools on blockchains, such as zero‑knowledge credential systems and privacy‑enhancing smart contract designs, aim to reconcile compliance with data minimization, offering an alternative to centralized databases that store all user information in one place.

Related: Concordium debuts app for anonymous online age checks amid UK rules backlash

Crypto privacy tools rise as policymakers test onchain ID controls

Against that backdrop, privacy‑focused crypto tools, from privacy coins like Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR) to decentralized identity protocols, continue to attract attention from users worried about financial surveillance and data breaches, as regulators step up scrutiny and explore ways to embed identity checks into DeFi and self‑hosted wallets.

The US Treasury’s proposed DeFi ID framework and renewed interest in privacy tokens have shown that policymakers are actively testing ways to fold stronger Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer controls into onchain infrastructure at the same time as builders push privacy‑preserving alternatives.

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