6. Use Cases for Digital ID
This section sets out public opinion on using digital ID to access the NHS and public services; convenience and efficiency; countering crime and fraud; and managing immigration.
Summary
People think digital ID would make it easier to access the NHS, but they do not want to prove their ID in order to use public services.
People are in favour of using digital ID to ease transactions and identity verification in dealings with the private sector, and feel more strongly about this than they do about accessing public services.
People think digital ID could make it easier to manage crime and fraud but there is a significant division between older and younger, and between white people and people of colour on whether police should be able to request ID.
Using digital ID to manage immigration is generally well-supported, but there are low-to-moderate levels of trust in the Home Office, particularly among people of colour, and high levels of concern from people from Asian and Other ethnicities, nationalities, and identities.
6.1 Access to the NHS and public services
Most people think digital ID would make it easier to use the NHS, but do not want to prove their ID in order to access public services.
Over 30% of people across all age groups think that using digital ID would make it easier to access the NHS, rising to 52% for over 65s. However, fewer people think that digital ID would make accessing other public services easier, with the highest level of support for this (25%) coming from people in the 18-24 age group.
People aged under 54 do not think that access to public services should be based on a single form of ID (see fig. 5.1 below); people aged over 55 show a much stronger preference for this, in line with their greater overall preference for use of identity verification.
Fig. 14: Q22—Access to public services should be based on producing a single form of ID (by age).
6.2 Convenience and efficiency
Increased personal convenience in dealings with the private sector is one of the biggest overall drivers for favourable opinions about digital ID and has higher levels of support than easing access to public services.
The simplicity of relying on one form of identification is the third most popular use case for digital ID across all age groups, with particularly high levels of approval with people aged 18 to 54.
Overall, respondents are in favour of using digital ID to ease transactions and identity verification in their dealings with the private sector.
Fig. 15: Q18—Thinking about your own experiences, for each of the following, how would a single ID affect these experiences.
Making it easier to open a bank account and making age restricted purchases are of interest to people across the board. It is notable that there is a high level of positivity about both of these proposals from people who identify as Black and from Mixed or Multiple backgrounds: notably, 58% of Black respondents think a single form of ID would improve the experience of opening a bank account, 56% think it would make it easier to prove identity to an employer, and 57% think it would improve the experience of buying age restricted products.
It is also worth noting that 55% of people aged over 65 think digital ID will improve their experience of buying age- restricted products—offering the highest level of support for this statement from any age group.
These day-to-day use cases are more favourable across the board than using a single ID to access NHS services (supported by 24% of the general population), accessing public services (19%), or creating savings and efficiencies for the public purse (16%).
6.3 Crime, fraud, and policing
People think digital ID could make it easier to manage crime and fraud but there is division between older and younger, white and ethnically diverse groups on whether police should be able to request ID.
At a general population level, people agree most strongly that digital ID could reduce crime and fraud, with relatively even levels of support from all demographics.
Fig. 16: Q16—Positive reasons for introducing a single form of digital ID.
However, the impact that digital ID might have on policing is more contested, particularly the issue of whether or not the police should have the ability to request ID. This is perhaps the most contentious issue in the research, with a clear division emerging in the opinions of older and white respondents and younger and ethnically diverse respondents.
People aged over 65 are most strongly in favour of the police being able to request digital ID, with younger age groups showing overall lower levels of support for this.
Fig. 17: Q21—Police should have the right to demand on request to see someone’s digital ID (by age)
Support for the police to be able to demand digital ID is lowest among Asian people and people from Mixed or Multiple and from Other ethnicities, and there is a considerable range of opinion, with a 20 point difference between the lowest and highest levels of support.
Fig. 18: Q21—Police should have the right to demand on request to see someone’s digital ID (by ethnicity, nationality, and identity).
People aged 18-54 are much more concerned about the risk of increased discrimination by the police that could result from being asked to present ID, with almost twice as many people aged 18-24 expressing concern than those in the 55-64 and 65+ age groups.
Fig. 19: Q17—Concern about a single form of digital ID because it could enable the police to discriminate against people, such as ethnic minorities, by disproportionately asking them to produce their identification card (by age).
White people are also the least concerned about the likelihood of police powers to request ID to increase discrimination.
Fig. 20: Q17—Concern about a single form of digital ID because it could enable the police to discriminate against people, such as ethnic minorities, by disproportionately asking them to produce their identification card (by ethnicity, nationality, and identity).
6.4 Immigration
Using digital ID to manage immigration is generally well- supported, but there are low-to-moderate levels of trust in the Home Office, particularly among people of colour, and there are high levels of concern from people from Asian and Other ethnicities, nationalities, and identities.
The use of digital ID to support management of immigration is, at general population level, the second most popular application of digital ID. While managing immigration is important to many, it is significantly more popular among people aged 55 and above than it is among those aged 18-54.
Fig. 21: Q16—Positive reasons for introducing a single form of digital ID, because it could help the government and authorities manage immigration (by age).
Reducing crime and fraud and managing immigration are the stand-out positive use cases for digital ID for people aged over 55—rating much higher than personal convenience and efficiency or financial savings for Government.
Fig. 22: Q16—Positive reasons for introducing a single form of digital ID (age 55+).
For people aged 18-54, use of digital ID for managing immigration drops into joint second place, more than 30 points behind reducing crime and fraud, and is of equal importance to the personal simplicity of having one form of ID.
Fig. 23: Q16—Positive reasons for introducing a single form of digital ID because it could help the government and authorities manage immigration (by ethnicity, nationality, and identity).
When viewed by ethnicity, nationality, and identity, people who identify as Asian and from Other ethnicities, identities, and nationalities are the least positive about digital ID being used in immigration, while there are higher levels of support for the use of digital ID in immigration management from both Black and White respondents.
Fig. 24: Q28—Trust in the Home Office to hold data about me (by age).
This picture, however, becomes more complex when trust in institutions is considered. Trust in the Home Office to hold and manage data about people is not a straightforward picture. Compared to the NHS (see fig. 24, 27), when considered by age group trust in the Home Office is more moderate across all age groups.
When we look at the data in figure 25 by ethnicity, nationality, and identity, it becomes clear that trust in the Home Office is erratic at best.
Fig. 25: Q28—Trust in the Home Office to hold data about me (by ethnicity, nationality, and identity).
This disconnect around trust is critical and raises questions about what would need to be in place to make the delivery and management of digital ID trustworthy for all sections of society.