Britain Scrapped Digital ID. So Why Is It Still Expanding?

In September 2026, the government confirmed it had cancelled the national digital ID scheme, which would have required digital right to work checks, while GOV.UK One Login and GOV.UK Wallet would continue. At a Public Accounts Committee hearing on 19 October, officials said One Login was connected to 264 government services, with about 500 planned within two years. In a statement to Forbes, DCMS said more than 26 million people had used One Login and that it does not link personal data with other government databases.

The article looks at plans to verify identity using welfare records and, from 2027, open banking, and the seven year audit trail in One Login’s privacy notice. Drawing on data failures at the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Electoral Commission, the Post Office Horizon scandal and the DWP’s machine learning fraud checks, it focuses on scope creep, accountability and challenging mistakes.