She said the move by Labour represented “another U-turn”.
When it first announced the policy plan, the government had argued that mandatory digital ID for workers would make it easier to clamp down on immigrants working illegally.
The scheme, it is understood, will now deal less narrowly with immigration and focus more on improving access to public services.
Asked about the issue at an Institute for Government conference earlier on Tuesday, Darren Jones, the minister responsible for rolling out the policy, said it would be a “route to the digital transformation of customer-facing public services”.
He said a consultation would be launched “very shortly”, adding: “I’m confident this time next year the polling will be in a much better place on digital ID than it is today.”