{"id":60431,"date":"2026-04-01T14:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/peoples-panel-to-check-if-uk-wants-controversial-digital-id-will-cost-630k\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T14:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:23:14","slug":"peoples-panel-to-check-if-uk-wants-controversial-digital-id-will-cost-630k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/peoples-panel-to-check-if-uk-wants-controversial-digital-id-will-cost-630k\/","title":{"rendered":"‘People’s Panel’ to check if UK wants controversial Digital ID will cost \u00a3630K"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK government will spend about \u00a3630,000 running a discussion panel on its digital identity card plans, which minister James Frith said will “consider different perspectives and debate trade-offs” alongside a formal consultation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Frith has revealed further details of how the “People’s Panel for Digital ID,” announced as part of the consultation on the scheme on March 10, will work in response to a volley of Parliamentary written questions from Conservative MP Alex Burghart and independent MP James McMurdock.<\/p>\n

Thousands of households will be invited to take part through what Frith calls “a random postcode lottery,” with between 100 and 120 people aged 18 or above selected to make up a “broadly representative sample” of the UK adult population. “No individual can buy their way in or simply turn up at the event,” he added<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recruitment will be run by the Sortition Foundation, a UK-based social enterprise that promotes citizen assemblies, which appear to be the model for the panel. These are groups of people chosen through sortition, a process similar to jury selection but without compulsion, to debate an issue. The Sortition Foundation argues<\/a> that they can “make trusted decisions that include minority voices while reflecting majority interests and advancing social justice”.<\/p>\n

The panel’s meetings will be run by facilitators from pollster Ipsos, the primary supplier under a \u00a34 million Government Communications Service contract awarded in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n