Digital ID Risks Another Windrush in the Making?

The UK government is pressing ahead with its plans to roll out a digital ID scheme, making it mandatory for Right to Work checks by the end of this Parliament in 2029. On paper, this might sound like progressstreamlined checks, reduced paperwork, easier verification. But the reality for migrants and minority communities could be very different, and dangerously familiar.

We only need to look at the current eVisa digital scheme to see the cracks. Thousands have already faced technical failures, difficulty accessing their records, confusion over how to prove their status, and employers or landlords unwilling to engage with the digital-only system. People have been left in limbo, with their lives disrupted, through no fault of their own.

This echoes the Windrush scandal, where British citizens were wrongly detained, denied services, or even deported because of government systems that failed to keep proper records. The scandal showed what happens when bureaucratic systems put the burden of proof unfairly on individuals, especially migrants, Black and ethnic minority communities.

By introducing digital ID without robust safeguards, transparency, and accountability, the government risks creating another scandal on the same scale as Windrush. If people are unable to access or prove their digital records, they may be wrongly denied the right to work, rent, or even healthcare. Once again, ordinary people who have every legal right to be here will bear the brunt of systemic failures.

The government says there will be a public consultation, but lessons from Windrush and the early failures of the eVisa scheme suggest that without genuine listening, co-design with affected communities, and clear alternatives to digital-only systems, we are heading for disaster.

This is not just a technical issue, it’s a human rights issue. Unless safeguards are built in now, we will be looking back in a few years, calling this the “next Windrush,” asking how we let it happen again.

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