As work progresses on creating electronic versions of the driving licence, as well as National Insurance and benefits details, representatives have indicated this rollout will be complete in two years

All identity and credential documents currently issued across central government will be offered in digital form within two years, a minister has said.

The Government Digital Service is currently in the process of developing the GOV.UK Wallet – a system that will allow citizens to store electronic versions of state-issued ID documents. The first such document will be a digital Veterans Card for former Armed Forces Personnel – which it is understood will initially be available to eligible holders via the GOV.UK One Login app. By the end of this year, a virtual version of the driving licence will also be offered, and will be accessible in a dedicated wallet section of the newly launched GOV.UK App.

Government has previously indicated that, in the future, other credentials to be digitised are expected to include the likes of National Insurance numbers, benefits details and, eventually, an electronic version of the UK passport that will, initially, offer holders the ability to prove their identity.

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The minister for the future digital economy and online safety, Baroness Maggie Jones, indicated that all of these documents – and all such credentials provided to citizens by departments – will be digitised within the next two years.

“The government plans to introduce digital versions of existing government-issued documents through the GOV.UK Wallet, a secure digital service for storing government-issued credentials on users’ smartphones,” she said, in response to a written parliamentary question from unaffiliated peer Lord Peter Truscott. “People will be able to use these documents to help prove things about themselves, such as eligibility to access services within government and more widely. The rollout begins this summer with the Veterans Card, followed by driving licences later in the year. All central government credentials are expected to be available by 2027. The GOV.UK Wallet is not, however, creating new identity documents.”

It is understood that government has not yet definitively determined whether the GOV.UK Wallet will exist as its own discrete app – separate from the GOV.UK App and independently downloadable, or whether it will be offered solely as an option within the wider government app. As uptake of that app grows in the coming months, GDS is expected to monitor user behaviour and preferences and make a judgement based on these factors.