Digital driving licences to be made available on phones this year
18 January 2025, 13:31
Digital driving licenses will be available on phones this year in a bid to improve public services.
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Users across the UK will be able to access the digital driving licenses on a new government app.
The virtual licences may reportedly be able to be used as ID when purchasing alcohol, at supermarket self-checkouts, voting and boarding domestic flights.
Physical licences will continue to be issued.
The move is an attempt to bring the government "into the 2020s", reported The Times.
Users may also be able to hide their address in some instances, such as in bars or shops.
Read more: Russell Brand admits speeding after being caught driving at 95mph
The virtual driving licences can be accessed from within a 'wallet' in an app called Gov.uk.
According to government data, there were more than 50 million driving licence holders in the UK in 2023.
The wallet is expected to be secured through biometrics and multifactor authentication, including security codes, functioning in a similar way to banking apps.
A government spokesperson said: "This government is committed to using technology to make people's lives easier and transform public services.
"Technology now makes it possible for digital identities to be more secure than physical ones, but we remain clear that they will not be made mandatory."
Digital licences are not new, with countries such as Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Australia and some US states using virtual licences.
Other services, such as benefits claims, tax payments and national insurance numbers, are said to be among the government's future considerations for the app.
Sir Tony Blair and Lord William Hague have previously called for a broad digital identification card. However, critics have expressed concerns about how these cards would impact privacy.
At the time of the discussions, the head of Big Brother Watch - a privacy campaign group - said the move "would be one of the biggest assaults on privacy ever seen in the UK".
EU member states are mandated to introduce at least one form of digital ID by 2026.
