The UK’s Armed Forces veterans are being tasked with one last mission – proving the government can successfully roll out a digital ID card scheme.

However, it seems the operation may already be running behind schedule. The virtual Veteran Card was originally slated to launch over the summer.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced on Friday it had launched a digital version of the Veteran Card, “which will make it easier and quicker to access key services and discounts via their smartphones.” The card can be used for establishing access to housing or mental health support, as well as for discounts on museum entry and rail fares.

In a statement, DSIT said the launch of the virtual Veteran Card was “part of government plans to deliver national renewal by transforming public services so they work around people’s lives and not the other way round.”

The card, it added, will be the first digital document to be stored in the GOV.UK One Login app.

DSIT said the app “provides the security and functionality for storing digital credentials as part of our national renewal agenda to create opportunity and make lives easier through better digital services.”

Veterans had previously been identified as early candidates for the GOV.UK wallet program. In May, guidance from the Government Digital Service said: “From summer 2025, GOV.UK Wallet will hold the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card, followed by the full driving licence.”

The Register asked DSIT why there had been a delay, but had not heard back at the time of publication.

Veterans are just one front in the government’s push to convince the British public to embrace digital ID cards.

Parliament’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee raised the problem of voter ID and fraud in its review of the 2024 general election. “We would support the creation of a digital [Voter Authority Certificate] or a digital government ID that could be used,” it said.

Alternatively, it said the government could consider a “vouching system.”

The government posted its response to the committee yesterday. Among other things, it said: “It is essential to keep our democratic processes under review to ensure they are fit for purpose, which is why we previously amended the list of accepted identifications to include the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card.”

The government added that it recognizes “the great value and convenience that the use of digital IDs can bring to the public particularly through simplified access and use.”

“We therefore agree with the Committee’s recommendation on the use of digital IDs as voter ID.”

And as “photographic documents already on the accepted list of voter ID become available in digital form, these too will be accepted at the polling station.”

Or, in other words, as the government digital wallet gets ever more crowded.

A spokesperson at DSIT told us:

“The digital Veteran Card is a specialist service designed specifically for veterans to prove their military service and access veteran-specific support, discounts and services. This is not the same as the recently announced digital ID scheme, but it will be secured by the same technology in the GOV.UK One Login app.

“That’s because we’ve built the core technical functionality for a digital wallet into the One Login app as planned. The app has been used by more than 11 million people and meets the highest security standards used across government and the private sector – so we know people use it and it works well.

“As we add more credentials over time – like the digital driving licence – and bring this capability to a bigger group of users, we will transition to talking about it as the GOV.UK Wallet.” ®