Supermarkets won’t require people to show ID to enter

False claims that shoppers will soon need to show photo ID to enter any supermarket in the UK are circulating widely online.

Videos being shared on social media, which appear to be mimicking a news broadcast, claim that from 12 September, shoppers will not be allowed to enter “any supermarket in the UK” without a “government-issued photo ID” as part of measures to stop shoplifting and fraud.

They say that staff will be at the doors to enforce the ID rule which “feels like airport-style security”. Failing an ID check could mean you are banned from that store for a month, the videos claim.

But these claims are all false. They form part of a number of misleading and alarmist videos we have seen spreading online about supposed new rules to limit personal freedoms in the UK.

Are supermarkets planning to introduce photo ID entry rules?

Full Fact contacted the UK’s largest supermarkets about the video’s claims that supermarkets will soon require photo ID to allow people to enter.

A spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium, a trade association which counts most of the UK’s largest supermarkets as members (such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, Co-op and Marks & Spencer), said the video was “completely false”.

“There are no plans for anyone to have to show ID to go into a supermarket,” they said.

A spokesperson for ASDA also told us there are “no such plans”, and a Waitrose spokesperson said “this is not something which we're doing”.

We also contacted the Department for Business and Trade about the claims, but did not receive a response.

While the claims in the video about showing ID to enter supermarkets are false, it is true that Sainsbury’s has recently begun testing facial recognition technology in two of its UK shops as part of efforts to tackle shoplifters, before potentially rolling it out nationwide.

The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also confirmed that the government is exploring introducing digital ID as a way to tackle illegal migration.

But this is not being introduced in mid September.

National Identity Cards were introduced under the last Labour government and were rolled out on a voluntary basis in 2009, but in 2011 ceased to be legal documents and the National Identity Register was destroyed.

We have recently fact checked other false claims including that from next year, every purchase over £1,000 will be automatically reported to HMRC and that cash withdrawals of over £420 will trigger a report to the government’s anti-fraud division.

Before sharing claims like these that you see on social media, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our toolkit gives you advice on how to navigate bad information online.