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LONDON — A proposal to make a digital ID compulsory for Right to Work checks has rebounded into a debate over whether it should include teenagers, after ministers were forced to deny that they are lowering the starting age from 16 to 13.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, fresh from a visit to Mumbai, where he hailed India’s Aadhaar system as a “massive success,” is adamant that Britain’s scheme will be different — no biometrics, and an accessible, inclusive design.
Precisely what’s on offer
The government’s official response to the petition, which has now gone viral, says the digital identity credential will be free for citizens and legal residents of the UK aged 16+; it’s consulting on 13+ “to be considered”.
It will also require all employers to use the new digital ID to verify Right to Work by the end of this Parliament. “This is not a card,” the response insists, as the plans are based around GOV.UK One Login and a future GOV.UK Wallet.
How it blew up
Asked whether 13-year-olds should have a digital ID, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Lots of 13-year-olds already do [have a form of digital ID],” triggering accusations of “mission creep” from the Liberal Democrats.
Politics: trust in reverse
Public sentiment has turned sharply. More in Common polling cited by The Independent shows net support for a national digital ID sliding from +35% in June to −14% after the announcement. That’s a brutal swing for a policy ministers argue will curb illegal working and cut bureaucracy.
Why it matters for compliance: The leverage point is employment. If Right to Work moves to a government-issued, verifiable credential, HR and onboarding stacks that can’t ingest it — or handle under-18 edge cases — create real regulatory and reputational risk.
Behind the headline
Where? Initially compulsory only for employment verification; other mandates may appear in the years ahead.
Not Aadhaar — but some takeaways. Starmer has met Aadhaar creator Nandan Nilekani and acknowledged the scheme’s scale, while vowing the UK version will not use biometrics and will prioritize inclusion.
Lost-in-translation moment. The under-18s were announced before the standards were ready — and privacy concerns spiraled into a classic trust-deficit loop. (IBM calls this the “privacy paradox”: people want better identity services and simultaneously fear them.)
IBM
Change for hiring
Verifiable credentials architecture. Identify how you will capture, validate, and store a government credential in the Right to Work process; draft a DPIA addendum now.
Underage treatment. If the consultation threshold is 13–15, you’ll need age-consent, age-proofing, and remediation routes for candidates with weak documents and no smartphones.
Human-readable. The polling has shown trust levels are low; candidate-facing messaging will need to be clear on data sharing, retention, and how audit trails will work.
BeVerified context & useful reads
- Building UK-grade Right to Work checks? See our GBG review for how legacy stacks handle employer obligations at scale.
- Planning continuous eligibility instead of one-off snapshots? Our Perpetual KYC guide covers patterns for ongoing status updates.
- Market scan for TM/sanctions engines that play nicely with ID wallets: Best AML Software Providers.
Relevant vendor (external): GBG (official site) — long-standing UK Right to Work tooling and integrations.
