UK’s new right to work digital ID scheme will be ‘challenging’

UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the plans last week in the build up to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

The government said the system would be in place by the end of the current parliament, at which point it would be compulsory for anyone seeking employment in the country to possess a digital ID.

The app-based ID would include information about the holder – including their name, date of birth, nationality and residency status, along with a photograph. 

A public consultation on the plans is expected to begin later this year, looking at how best to offer the ID cards to those without access to smartphones or digital services.

The government said the move would help cut illegal immigration by making it harder for people coming to the UK illegally to find work, but Shara Pledger, an immigration expert with Pinsent Masons, warned that the proposals would face significant opposition for a variety of reasons. 

“There is criticism of the scheme as a whole, due to concerns over privacy and data security, but the cost of implementation and whether it can achieve the stated aim of reducing illegal working is also questioned,” she said.

“UK employers are already required to check and confirm the right to work status of their employees if they wish to have any form of defence against financial penalties for hiring illegal workers. It is unclear why an unscrupulous employer who already fails in their right to work checking obligations will change their practices further to introduction of the ‘Britard’ digital ID,” she said.

“However, the government has been clear about its intention to widen the existing scope of right to work checks and illegal worker penalties, and introduction of a new ID card could feed directly into that,” said Pledger.

“Making organisations responsible for the work status of all workers, including contractors and gig economy workers, would be extremely challenging within the current status checking requirements, but a more streamlined checking service that involves digital ID may be one option for a more workable checking scheme which has much wider application,” she said.