The UK government has confirmed that digital identity cards will not be made compulsory for workers, marking a significant change to plans first outlined by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last year. Instead, digital IDs will be introduced as an optional form of identification alongside existing documents such as passports and visas.
The revised approach forms part of the government's wider programme to modernise right-to-work checks, which will still become mandatory in digital form. Ministers say the system will be rolled out by the end of the current Parliament, with full implementation targeted for 2029.
