Only 10,000 people in UK have applied for government-issued voter ID

Only about 10,000 people have applied for a government-issued voter ID since the scheme opened, just 0.5% of the total who potentially need the document, the Guardian has learned.

The slow take-up, which could leave hundreds of thousands of people disenfranchised at local elections in May, will adds to worries that the scheme is being rushed through and could cause chaos.

As of last Friday just over 10,000 people had used a central government portal to apply for one of the certificates, which are then issued for free by local councils, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) told election officials in a briefing on Tuesday.

This covers the first fortnight of the scheme to issue the so-called voter authority certificates, a period that included a major advertising campaign by the Electoral Commission seeking to inform people about the new voting rules.

According to earlier government research, close to 2 million voters across the UK do not possess photo ID that has a recognisable picture of them, as is required under the new law. At the current rate it would take eight years to issue the documents to all those who potentially need them.