Respond to the consultation on digital ID

Thank you to everyone who responded to the government consultation before 5th May 2026 to make sure the government gets sex right on digital ID.

The government has committed to creating a new national digital ID (BritCard) by the end of this Parliament. 

It will include a person’s full name, date of birth, nationality and a photo, but not their sex.

We think this is a mistake. If a national system of digital ID is developed it should include sex as a voluntary field.

• Read the blog post.
• Read the briefing.

A consultation is open until Tuesday 5th May. It is important that lots of people and businesses respond to say that sex should be included.

How to respond to the consultation

You can respond as a member of the public or an expert, or on behalf of an organisation (including a service provider). 

You are asked to respond to the core proposal (Part 1: Our Ambition), and then select which other sections to respond to. 

Select The build and design of digital ID and answer the questions about chapter 3.1.

Part 1: Our Ambition

What do you think the main benefits will be, if any, for the government’s new national digital ID system?   

If you support digital ID you can say so – the main benefits include making it easier for people to interact with public and private services. 

What do you think the main drawbacks will be, if any, for the government’s new national digital ID system?   

If you have concerns about digital ID, you can say so here.

One of the government’s aims for the new national digital ID system is to make it easier for people to prove who they are. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposed system could help achieve this aim, and why?  

We suggest: Somewhat disagree.

Please explain your answer   

The current proposal leaves sex out of a person’s digital identity. Sex is an important part of who someone is.

Explain why you think it is important that sex is included as an attribute. 

You might want to cover these points:

• The current design of digital identity allows people to prove their age but not their sex.
• People should also be able to prove their sex in the same simple, useful, trustworthy way they can prove their age.
• There currently is no reliable way for people to prove this.
• The government is missing an opportunity to put this right by not including sex in the design of the system.

Chapter 3.1: Information contained in the digital ID  

The national digital ID will include a person’s full name, date of birth, nationality, and a biometric facial image (photo). What further information, if any, should the digital ID also include?   

Explain why you think it is important that sex (“biological sex”) is included.

You might want to cover these points:

• Everyone has a sex (sometimes called biological sex).
• It is important information about them.
• Currently there is no reliable way to accurately verify a person’s sex from documents/ remotely, and many official records are unreliable.
• There are many reasons why people may want to prove their sex.
  • joining a dating service
  • joining a single-sex association, such as Girlguiding or the Women’s Institute
  • applying for a bursary, prize or award that is only for women 
  • joining a gym and using its ID to access male or female changing rooms
  • registering for sport with a national governing body or sports team, or for competitions
  • applying for a job in social care, policing, prisons or a single-sex service
  • seeking to rent in a shared house, homestay, hall of residence or dormitory
  • registering with a health or social-care provider
  • registering with a single-sex service such as a rape crisis centre or women’s refuge, or being referred between such services.
• The government’s Digital ID is the foundation for private-sector digital verification systems. There is only one correct answer to the question of biological sex – the government should provide it. 
• Sex should be included on a voluntary basis.
• By drawing on the birth register (rather than passports or other documents) for this field the system could provide accurate sex data for the majority of people in the UK, with additional options for those born in other countries.

You may want to talk about personal experience here, for example as a gym-goer, athlete, user or provider of single-sex services, user of health and social care or member of a single-sex association.

Businesses and organisations accepting the national digital ID need to trust that the information on it is up to date and accurate. We are exploring whether people with a digital ID should be legally required to inform the government within an appropriate timeframe of certain changes (such as a name change) or errors to their personal information, so that their digital ID can be updated. 

To what extent do you agree or disagree with a legal requirement to inform the government of changes or errors within an appropriate timeframe?

We suggest: Strongly agree.

Please explain your answer

An error-correction mechanism and a legal requirement to correct errors would be a simple and straightforward way of ensuring accurate sex data. Everyone knows their own sex. 

People should have the option of not having their sex on digital ID. But if they choose to have sex included, it should be accurate.