- Improving digital access to public services remains a challenge for government, despite the cancellation of government’s digital ID plans
- Fragmented services and systems make it difficult to integrate access for customers and ensure privacy and security
- International comparisons show no single model for success, but other countries are moving at pace towards phone-based digital wallets and identity systems across multiple sectors
In July 2026, the government announced that it would not proceed with its proposals for digital identity.
A range of digital identity-related services, credentials, standards and governance arrangements already exists. Yet important questions remain about how people can securely and conveniently prove who they are and demonstrate their entitlement to services.
In its latest ‘Lessons Learned’ report, the NAO draws on previous work on digital transformation, data and identity, together with evidence from international audit bodies, to set out what currently exists and to help inform any future consideration of digital identity.
The report emphasises that digital identity is not a single product or technology. It is an ecosystem of services, credentials, standards, providers and governance arrangements spanning both government and the private sector.
The UK has, in general, a solid foundation through legislation and standards as well as existing services but inconsistency remains across departments and services, largely due to long-standing legacy data and systems issues.
Different public services use different identifiers, such as National Insurance number, Unique Taxpayer Reference and NHS number. Establishing a trusted digital identity to access multiple services is only part of the challenge. Government also needs to link that identity to the correct record within each service. Connecting records relating to the same person across different systems and services is a further challenge, made more difficult by differences in systems, standards and data quality.
Studies from other countries also find that, outside of countries with a history of mandatory identity systems, successful digital identity relies on people finding it useful and wanting to use it. Take-up is linked to whether systems provide clear, practical benefits in everyday use.
As other countries move towards phone-based digital wallets, reusable credentials and cross-sector identity systems, decisions about interoperability and standards are likely to become increasingly important for the UK’s long term system design.
The report concludes with lessons for government as it considers its revised approach to digital identity:
- It will be important to define any future objectives, delivery choices, and how to effectively address long-standing constraints in legacy systems and fragmented data.
- In any future initiative, government will need to define priority scenarios and set out how to fund, deliver and integrate them across services.
- Government will need to decide how far to build new public sector capabilities, such as a digital wallet and supporting infrastructure, and how far to rely on private sector provision operating within the trust framework.
"Despite government's recent announcement that it will not be going ahead with its digital identity plans, questions about how people can conveniently and securely prove who they are or something about themselves in a digital world remain relevant. Experience from other countries suggests digital identity works best when people find it useful and want to use it in their everyday lives, together with effective security and privacy protections."
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO
Full publication
Notes for editors
Our work on the lessons for government of work on digital identity in the UK and elsewhere was largely completed before the government cancelled its programme to develop a single government-issued digital identity. We have repurposed this report to inform wider work on digital access to public services.