Digital ID Ministers roll back on right-to-work mandate

Ministers have rolled back on a key element of the proposed digital ID plans, leaving open the possibility that people will be able to use other forms of identification to prove their right to work.

- Peter Walker Pippa Crerar

This will mean that the ID cards, announced to some controversy in September, will no longer be mandatory for working-age people, given that the only planned obligatory element was to prove the right to work in the UK.

While officials insisted this was not a U-turn, just a tweak ahead of a detailed consultation on how the system would function, it will be viewed as the latest in a recent series of policy changes, including on business rates and inheritance tax for farmers.

When Keir Starmer announced the proposal for ID cards by 2029 it was billed initially as a voluntary idea, with the exception that it would be mandatory for people to show they were legally allowed to work.