Should the UK introduce a single digital ID to replace National Insurance, NHS and licence numbers?
The UK uses separate identifiers including National Insurance numbers for tax and benefits, NHS numbers for healthcare and driving licence numbers for vehicle and identity purposes. In 2025 the then government proposed a voluntary digital ID to streamline access to services and right-to-work checks but dropped the plans in July 2026 under Prime Minister Andy Burnham to prioritise cost of living measures. Multiple legacy systems and fragmented data across departments continue to require separate proofs of identity.
19 Opinions
Having any sort of digital ID is dangerous. Firstly it is vulnerable to being hacked for there is no such thing as perfect security. Places that have something similar have seen this. The current Government One login was cracked by cyber experts and nothing was acknowledged by those responsible. Secondly there is the problem of scope creep by governments to control.
More state interference and oversight of our lives.
It's rational. But unlikely to happen.
It would stream line everything and reduce costs. DOGR lol
One ID one person. Would reduce the amount of crime possible with fake IDs etc.
Our government and outsourced agencies cannot be trusted, especially with our data. Digital ID is a control mechanism. We survived and thrived without before, this is potentially the gateway to social credit system. It is pretty much the reason why all these days centres are being built.
More digital I.D. ??? Christ... Look, the more info the Govt puts together, the more damaging it will be when the data is leaked. And it WILL be leaked to criminals or hostile states because this already happens to even the most tech and security careful, highly competent companies Our clown show govt apparatus hasn't a chance in hell of managing this competently You know it, I know it. The answer has to be NO
It’s a very backwards and convoluted system, this would simplify it. The privacy concern doesn’t really hold water because this isn’t an increase in how much data the government holds on you
I've got 3 different driving cards, a passport, and an NI number to memorise. And every different hospital department seems to use their own ID verification. I've got no idea why my NI number won't cover the lot. If it was assigned at birth, it works. Oh, yeah, they'll use it to track me, but if you think they don't already use these numbers for that, you shouldn't be on the internet without a grown up...
The mission creep when coupled with a cbdc is obvious and dystopian, they sell it as a convenience but once mandatory they can pretty much turn off you access to anything at a whim also the threat of hackers or hostile states accessing a centralised database isn’t a small thing either