Digital ID scheme will be a 'passport' out of homelessness, insists Keir Starmer

Digital ID can be a “passport” out of homelessness, prime minister Keir Starmer has told the Big Issue – but campaigners fear that those without a smartphone could be left behind.

Brits will need a digital ID to prove their right to work in the UK by 2029, the government announced last month.

The policy – intended to tackle illegal working and therefore illegal immigration – has drawn the ire of privacy campaigners, who fear an expansion of state surveillance.

But in an exclusive interview with Big Issue after a visit to a branch of Barclays Bank in Brighton, the prime minister denied these claims. Instead, he insisted that the new digital ID system could help the most vulnerable people in society.

Read more:

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• Keir Starmer: ‘This Christmas I am pledging to make sure no one faces homelessness’

“This is really helpful for people who are homeless, because quite often they won’t necessarily have the documents they need to access services,” he said.

Speaking directly to those rough sleeping, he added: “This is a passport to the services that you are entitled to, which will help you. You know, we really want to end rough sleeping and homelessness, and this is your passport, your gateway, if you like, to help us help you and get out of the situation you’re in.”

With homelessness stubbornly high, there will be no easy fix. The official rough sleeping snapshot revealed 4,667 people were homeless on England’s streets in autumn 2024.

Some 172,000 homeless children are living in temporary accommodation, data released last week shows – a record high.

Starmer said digital ID would form part of a “suite of tools” to tackle the problem, alongside an end to no-fault evictions and plans to build 1.5 million new homes. “We do have to tackle homelessness, and we need to do it in a number of different levels,” he continued.

How will the new digital ID scheme work?

The IDs will be stored on smartphones, like a digital bank card. They will include the holders’ residency status, name, date of birth, nationality and a photo.

A public consultation on the scheme will be launched later this year. For those not seeking work, having a digital ID will be optional.

“It’s not mandatory. You don’t have to have it,” Starmer told Big Issue. “And therefore, if anybody hasn’t got a mobile phone, we will look at other ways that they can access through ID what they’re entitled to.

“It’s really important, because a lot of people are homeless and not able to access the support that is actually there for them. And would help them.”

Campaigners in the homelessness sector are not so sure. Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, warned that a poorly designed scheme could compound existing barriers.  

“Any new ID system must be designed to help people access the services they need – rather than make it more difficult,” he said.

“People experiencing homelessness already face barriers when trying to access support, secure a tenancy or obtain work, due to having no fixed address. Recent changes elsewhere, such as to voter registration, have hampered people exercising their rights to engage in elections. Many people we work with don’t have smartphones, which at this stage appear central to these new proposals.”

A good ID scheme would be accessible to people without a stable home or fixed address, he added.

“This endeavour cannot result in further isolating people who can struggle to navigate complex systems or participate fully in their local communities.”

According to the Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA), almost 4.5 million adults do not own a smartphone, including one in four of those over 75. Around 11 million adults lack the digital skills to complete basic online tasks.

“A digital system that assumes universal access is not inclusive,” said Cassia Jefferson from the DPA. “It builds barriers to work, learning, and public life – leaving millions excluded from opportunity and full participation.”

Exclusion is not the only concern.

Civil liberties campaigners fear that a mandatory ID card system will require the population to cede vast amounts of personal data, turning us into what Big Brother Watch describe as a “checkpoint society.”

“Digital IDs would do absolutely nothing to deter small boats but would make Britain less free, creating a domestic mass surveillance infrastructure that will likely sprawl from citizenship to benefits, tax, health, possibly even internet data and more,” said Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo.

Starmer denied that the cards represent an “expansion of state control”.

“No, it’s not. I mean, anybody who’s applying for a mortgage for rent will be familiar with having to submit their ID documents,” he told Big Issue.

“This is a very convenient, efficient way of making life easier. I would say it’s the ‘cut the faff’ element. I think everybody will be familiar with rummaging around in drawers and other places, trying to find ID documents or bank accounts or something that proves who they are. It cuts out all of that.

“The other thing I would say is that we do carry quite a lot of information on our phones already, and so we live in a different world now than we did 10 or 20 years ago.”

What do people think of the new digital ID scheme?

After interviewing the prime minister, the Big Issue took to the streets of Brighton to hear what locals thought. 

“I don’t really understand it, but it sounds OK to me,” said Louise, 22. “I’ve seen a lot of people posting on instagram that they’re ‘taking away our digital freedom’ and stuff, but that seems like a lot,”

But her friend, Clara – also a student – opposes the policy. It’s another way to make life harder for asylum seekers, she said.

“I think it’s about making sure only British people can work. In which case, we shouldn’t have it, if it’s going to make it harder for people.

“It just adds to that anti-refugee thing. It’s just another thing.”

Valerie, a 76 year old from Yorkshire, said she “wouldn’t want it”. “I wouldn’t want them prying into our business,” she added.

As a former soldier, Valerie’s brother-in-law Robert is already able to access some forms of digital ID. 

“They want to experiment it on us,” he said, referring to the scheme being soft launched on Armed Forces veterans. “Most of us are going to boycott it. It’s probably because we don’t like being experimented on. I have a military ID card, so why do I need another? I have one of those [a smartphone] but there’s a lot of my age group that don’t use the internet at all.”

Net support for digital ID cards fell from 35% in June to -14% at the start of October, according to polling by More in Common – suggesting that association with the prime minister has tanked support for the policy.

Nonetheless, Starmer believes that they will eventually be popular.

“I mean, how many people can put their hands on their birth certificate and want to get it out to prove [who they are] when they could just show a digital ID on their phone? It’ll, it’ll be a real game changer.

“It’s not really mandatory here, apart from where people are working… in other countries, it’s so helpful, it cuts out the faff. So in the end, everybody wants it.”

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