UK Government Sets Out its Digital Identity Plans

Since leaving the EU in January 2020, the UK government has worked to establish a distinct policy perspective on citizen identity and its relation to the state. As the EU starts to trial aspects of the European Digital Identity through large-scale pilots to test the deployment of the European Digital Identity Wallet the UK is planning its own Office for Digital Identities (ODIA).

The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has outlined the plans for ODIA in its response to the public consultation on digital identities ¹. It said this will be a step towards making digital identities as trusted and secure as official paper documents such as passports and driving licences.

This also marks the next step in fostering the development of an ecosystem for digital identities and attributes, following last year’s proposals for a trust framework and a governing body. The ODIA will be set up within the DCMS to fulfil the role on an interim basis to oversee the relevant security and privacy standards.