UK Government includes Digital ID in Kings Speech- Digital Access to Services Bill

Today’s King’s Speech outlined the government’s legislative priorities for the year ahead, including an upcoming Bill covering digital identity, called the Digital Access to Services Bill. The focus of the Bill is to modernise how citizens interact with public services.

For many years, techUK has argued that digital identity services, when delivered effectively, can improve access to services, enable public sector transformation as well as strengthen online security and increase convenience for citizens. Following this announcement, techUK will be ready to engage constructively with government on the next steps as the details of this Bill takes shape.

While techUK welcomes the prioritisation of digital ID from government, further detail on the exact scope and focus of any proposed legislation will be needed, strong and sustained engagement and consultation with the Digital Identity sector is vital through this process. Industry is keen to work together with government to realise the benefits on offer to citizens and public service delivery outlined by the government today, ensuring this builds upon the existing DVS sector.

Where is this coming from?

This announcement builds on the government’s growing policy focus on digital identity, including the launch of the GOV.UK Wallet in January 2025 and the announcement of a national digital identity in September 2025. That direction was further developed through the government’s National ID consultation, “Making public services work for you with your digital identity” launched in March 2026. This consultation was structured around the core principles of digital ID being useful, inclusive, and trusted — principles that underpin three of the consultation’s six chapters. The consultation explored a wide range of issues, from the creation, storage, and management of a national digital identity, to addressing key challenges such as fraud prevention and digital exclusion. As outlined in techUK's response, it is vital that any Government-backed national digital identity that is introduced complements, rather than competes with, existing private sector solutions.

What will the bill do?

The government is framing this new bill as modernising public services, making public services simpler, safer, and more accessible. The government outlines that the National Digital ID will:

The announcement mentions that Right to Work checks will be one of the first use cases intended for the Digital ID.

Building upon the existing digital ID ecosystem

The UK is already seeing meaningful adoption of digital identity across regulated sectors, including right to work, right to rent, and DBS checks. This is being delivered by the UK’s growing DVS sector, an expanding ecosystem of providers offering secure identity verification services across financial services, retail, transport, travel, and online content access. Existing use cases already generate £2.05 billion in annual revenue, with the sector expected to continue growing significantly over the next decade.

Recognising the benefits already being delivered by the DVS sector, techUK welcomes the Government’s prioritisation of digital identity and the opportunity to work collaboratively to ensure any national digital identity plays a complementary role within an open, fair, and competitive digital identity ecosystem.

Next steps

techUK will continue to engage closely with Government on the next steps with the public consultation process and following the announcement of this Bill. Ensuring partnership between government and the private sector is strong and sustained is now more important than ever to ensure the UK continues to drive a thriving, open and fair digital ID ecosystem.

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