UK government set to make all your licenses and other official documents available via a digital wallet
Hot on the heels of its plans to turbocharge AI usage, the UK government has today announced that it wants to introduce a new GOV.UK Wallet, a digital wallet that will hold official documents.
Starting with Veteran Cards and Driving Licenses this year, it will expand to take in things like Blue Badges for disabled drivers, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) letters, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and every other credential issued by the government.
A mobile driving license will be one of the first digital documents in the wallet later this year and will ultimately allow people to prove their age from their phone in shops or online. By the end of 2027, the GOV.UK Wallet will include other credentials issued by the government. Traditional physical documents will remain available for those who opt not to use the digital approach.
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This comes as part of a wider revamp of the Government Digital Service, which will use digital tools and data to transform public services and help the taxpayer benefit from £45 billion ($55 billion) in efficiency savings.
Science Secretary Peter Kyle says:
Along with CDs, the Walkman and flip phones, the overflowing drawer rammed with letters from the Government and hours spent on hold to get a basic appointment will soon be consigned to history. GOV.UK Wallet will mean that every letter or identity document you receive from the government could be issued to you virtually.
For people who choose to use GOV.UK Wallet, they will find it easier to prove they're entitled to benefits or check their age when buying alcohol or DIY equipment, with more security and trust than ever before. Crucially, it also opens huge opportunities to make interacting with public services much easier by putting people in control of their own data.
We will be overhauling how the public sector uses technology which is essential to delivering our Plan for Change, and in combination with this new tech for people to use themselves, we are going to slash the time people waste dealing with annoying processes so they can focus on what matters to them.
Naturally there will be concerns around security with such a wide-ranging set of information in one app. The announcement seeks to reassure, saying the technology will make use of security features that are built into modern smart phones, including facial recognition checks similar to those used when people pay using a digital bank card. It means that digital documents should be more secure, even if a device is lost.
The wallet will be available on iOS and Android, with a Digital Veteran Card to be made available to former service personnel later this year. A mobile driver’s license will be piloted later in 2025, and all government services will have to offer a digital alternative alongside paper or card credentials by the end of 2027 under plans set out by the Blueprint for Digital Government.
This summer there are also plans for a new GOV.UK App that will make using government services -- like applying for childcare or reporting a lost passport easier. Users will be able to build a personalized homepage of the services most useful to them by answering a handful of simple questions -- for example, car owners can opt to see information about getting an MOT test or applying for road tax.
The government's own generative AI chatbot, GOV.UK Chat may in future be added to the app to help people find answers to complex and niche questions, where the relevant information could be spread over dozens of pages.
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