Digital ID only works when privacy comes first

London – 13th May 2026 – Today’s King’s Speech puts Digital ID firmly back on the UK agenda.

The UK government’s Digital Access to Services Bill signals a clear ambition: to modernise how people interact with public services and create a voluntary Digital ID framework for the UK. It is a significant moment for the digital economy. But the success of any Digital ID scheme won’t be decided by legislation alone.

It will be decided by trust.

The UK has been here before. Previous identity schemes faced public and political resistance because people were concerned about surveillance, centralised databases, and the loss of control over personal information. Those concerns should not be dismissed as resistance to progress. They are a useful reminder of what digital identity must get right.

A successful UK digital identity framework cannot become another model built on collecting and moving more personal data. It needs to do the opposite. It should reduce how much sensitive information is shared, copied, stored, and exposed across public and private services.

That is where privacy-preserving technology matters.

Zero-knowledge proofs are critical because they allow someone to prove something is true without revealing the underlying personal data. A person could prove they are over 18 without sharing their date of birth. Prove eligibility for a service without handing over a full identity profile. Prove trust without creating unnecessary data risk.

This is a significant step forward for the UK’s digital economy. It reflects growing recognition that trusted digital identity can reduce fraud, improve online experiences, and make public services easier to access.

But for Digital ID adoption to translate from policy to reality, people need to trust the systems they use. They also need to understand the value those systems provide.

That means the identity frameworks announced in the King’s Speech cannot become another model built on collecting personal data. The UK population deserves systems that preserve privacy and reduce the volume of sensitive information passed between organisations. This is how we build consumer trust — and how we empower people to become advocates for Digital ID in the future.

The reality of an opt-in system is that adoption will happen gradually. During this transition, businesses will need to manage fragmented identity environments, where some customers choose wallet-based verification and others continue using more traditional methods such as passwords, memorable answers, documents, or manual checks.

Successfully orchestrating between those systems without adding friction or complexity will be critical to building long-term trust, momentum, and market share.

Ditto helps organisations move towards that model: privacy-preserving digital identity infrastructure that supports secure verification, authentication, selective disclosure, and permission-based data sharing — keeping the customer in control. 

Digital ID is not just about proving who someone is. It is about proving only what is needed.

That is how the UK builds trust. That is how Digital ID moves from policy to everyday adoption.