Whitehall officials have dismissed a forecast suggesting the UK’s forthcoming digital identity scheme could cost £1.8 billion, but they are refusing to reveal what the real price tag might be until next year.
The estimate, published by the Office for Budget Responsibility as part of its analysis of last month’s Budget, has been rejected by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Emran Mian, the department’s permanent secretary, told MPs on 3 December that the OBR had relied on an “early estimate” which does not reflect the current thinking behind the scheme.
He said the true cost would not be known until after a delayed public consultation, now pushed into the new year. The consultation will determine what a digital ID will contain, how people will access it, and the scope of its intended uses.
“Only once we have consulted will we be really clear on what it is that we have to build and in what order,” Mian said. “It is only at that point that we will have a good estimate of what the cost is.”
The government initially said the consultation would launch before the end of the year, ahead of plans to make digital ID compulsory for anyone starting a new job by the end of this Parliament. But a written answer on 11 November from Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons confirmed the process will not begin until early next year.
Simons also revealed that ministers are considering a “digitally enabled physical alternative” for people without access to technology, raising the prospect of physical ID cards returning as part of the scheme. He added that all data would be stored in secure UK-based cloud systems.
In further parliamentary answers, Simons said the government intends to consult on expanding digital IDs to teenagers as young as 13. Officials argue this could simplify the employment of young people and support age-verification processes required under the Online Safety Act 2023.
The contrasting statements from the OBR and Whitehall, along with the repeated delays, have left MPs pressing for clarity as the government’s flagship digital identity project remains clouded in uncertainty.
