UK government to consult on digital IDs for 13-year-olds

The United Kingdom (UK) government will consult on whether children aged between 13 and 16 years old should be included in the roll-out of planned digital IDs.

The proposed UK-wide scheme will be introduced by 2029, and available to all UK citizens and legal residents, but only mandatory in order to work.

There has been a backlash to the scheme, with a petition attracting nearly three million signatures.

On Friday, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper defended the plan, telling LBC “lots of 13-year-olds already” have digital IDs and that standardising the process would help.

A spokesperson said the government “needs to consult” on including children as young as 13, since many already work part-time.

“As we announced, it will be a legal requirement for employers to check someone’s digital ID as part of Right to Work checks,” the government spokesperson added.

“Children can work part-time from the age of 14. In some local council areas this is from the age of 13.”

Under the proposals, digital ID will be available for free to all UK citizens and legal residents. It will be mandatory only for those seeking employment, while remaining optional for students, pensioners and others not entering the workforce.

Defending the plans to consider the inclusion of 13- to 16-year-olds in the scheme, Cooper told LBC: “Everybody has forms of digital ID… We all have different ways of having to prove who we are.

“Lots of 13-year-olds already do [have a form of digital ID], and what the department is going to be consulting on is exactly how that should be taken forward.

“I do think this is the right way forward, to have this standardised process now, and it’s something that we had been already setting out for people who come to work from abroad.”

The UK petition opposing the IDs warns the scheme could lead to “mass surveillance and digital control”.

However, civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch branded the scheme “Orwellian” and urged members of parliament to reject plans.

Director Silkie Carlo said: “The prospects of enrolling even children into this sprawling biometric ID system is sinister, unjustified and prompts the chilling question of just what Starmer’s government think the digital ID will be used for in the future.

“At a time when parents are taking a critical view of whether children should have smartphones, it is shocking that the government is considering enrolling children into this digital ID app.”

The Liberal Democrats said the consultation on offering digital ID to 13-year-olds showed they had been right to warn about “mission creep”.

“It is frankly sinister, unnecessary, and a clear step towards state overreach,” said the party’s science and technology spokesperson Victoria Collins.

During a trip to India this week, Starmer praised the country’s far more extensive Aadhaar digital ID system, which includes biometric data, as a “massive success”.

He suggested similar technology could be used in UK banking and public services.

Downing Street later clarified his comments, stating the UK scheme would not necessarily replicate India’s biometric model and would be run by the public sector.

Other countries that already have digital ID systems include Estonia, Denmark and Spain, as well as Canada and Japan.

The European Union is introducing the Digital Identity (eID) Wallet, which all member states will be required to roll out to citizens by the end of 2026.

Digital ID schemes are also being piloted in non-European Union countries Norway, Iceland, and Ukraine.– BBC

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