Summary of Public Opinion

57% of people think there should be a single form of ID in the UK. 

However, different demographic groups want this single identity solution to take different formats and meet different needs. There are also concerns of some demographics
that must first be addressed before, and be factored into, rollout. While there are many different opinions, the solution that meets most needs across all demographics is a single, voluntary form of digital ID.

Generation Gap 

People aged over 65 are more enthusiastic about all forms of identification than all other age groups, but they are also the least likely to use digital ID. The strength of this group’s opinions masks a more varied set of opinions shared by adults aged 18-64 who are navigating different life stages and administrative challenges. However, the broad picture is that:

  • Younger people (aged 18–54) are more motivated by personal convenience than by law and order measures, and have higher levels of concern about possible harms to others;

  • Older people (aged 55+) are more strongly motivated by law and order concerns, are less likely to be personal users of digital ID, and are less worried by negative societal impacts for others such as discrimination.

For more on this, see Section Four.

A matrix showing the four mini publics plotted against high-low use, and law and order - convenience and social freedoms.

Fig. 1: Mini publics.

Law and Order or Convenience and Social Freedoms?

Differences in public opinion and motivations for engaging with digital ID are most clearly illustrated by the four segments, or mini publics shown in figure 1.

Typically, younger people and people of colour are more highly engaged with digital ID, probably because they are more frequently asked to prove who they are. People from these early adopter groups are more likely to want efficient ways to prove their identity to private sector providers and be motivated by personal convenience, but have high levels of concern about the impacts digital ID will have on others’ safety and on their own freedoms.

Older people (aged 55+) and those who identify as White British and Other are likely to be low users of digital ID and feel more relaxed about their personal freedoms. Older people have significantly higher levels of concern about law and order than all other groups. Overall, White British and Other people are fairly neutral on social and other impacts.

For more on this, see Section Four.

Overall Use Cases — General Preferences 

  • People think digital ID would make it easier to access the NHS, but do not want to prove their ID in order to use public services.

  • People are in favour of using digital ID to ease private sector transactions, and are overall more in favour of this than using digital ID to access 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, white and ethnically diverse groups on whether police should be able to request ID.

  • Using digital ID to manage immigration is generally well-supported, but there are moderate-to-low levels of trust in the Home Office, particularly among people of colour, and high levels of concern about the use of digital ID to manage immigration from people from Asian and Other ethnicities, nationalities, and identities.

For more on this, see Section Five.

Trust and confidence

  • People have high levels of trust in the NHS and low levels of trust in big tech, and more people would prefer to use a government-created digital ID than one created by a private sector provider.

  • People are generally comfortable with the levels of digitisation they experience in everyday life, but younger people and people of colour are significantly more concerned than older (aged 65+) and white people about the effects that technologies have on people’s freedoms and liberties.

For more on this, see Section Six.