Digital ID: What It Is and How It Works

A digital ID is a secure form of identity verification that allows you to prove who you are by accessing and sharing verified digital credentials (for example, a driving licence or an NHS number) in a way that is trustworthy, privacy-protected and accessible across borders. It also allows you to access government services through a single unique identifier.

Digital ID allows you to verify your identity quickly and securely. It reduces the need for in-person appointments, paper documents and repeated identity checks when accessing services such as banking, renting property or applying for benefits. Digital-ID systems also give you more control over which pieces of information are shared, when and with whom.

Digital ID helps governments be more efficient: it enables seamless, more accessible and personalised public services while helping to reduce fraud and cut costs. TBI analysis estimates that a digital-ID system could improve the UK government’s fiscal position by around £2 billion per year through reduced benefit fraud, increased tax compliance and more accurately targeted crisis support.

Digital-ID systems are designed to be ultra-secure through a range of modern protection methods, including encryption and biometric verification. Digital ID also allows you to be in control of the data shared in any transaction, giving you visibility over which pieces of information you’re sharing and with whom they’re being shared.

All digital ecosystems face cyber-security risks; however, governments subject their digital-ID systems to strict technical standards, regulatory oversight and continuous monitoring to reduce vulnerabilities and respond quickly to potential breaches. Ukraine’s digital ID provides a great example of how these modern systems are near impossible to hack: the government has been keeping its citizens’ data safe from cyber-attacks throughout the war with Russia.

Digital ID is not designed to enable centralised tracking of citizens’ data and activity. Properly implemented systems use privacy-preserving safeguards that minimise data collection, restrict data retention, and give you full control over which personal information is shared, and with whom.