Scottish National Entitlement Card

In 2000, the then Scottish Executive assigned budget for a Modernising Government Fund intended to improve public services;[2] part of this budget was targeted towards the development of a voluntary public sector smartcard, an initiative that in 2003 was highlighted as an area to be developed further by local authorities.[3] In parallel, s.40 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005[4] provided for the introduction of national travel concession schemes that would be funded centrally rather than by local authorities, and it was decided that what was by then known as the National Entitlement Card[5] would be used to administer the travel scheme[6] when it was introduced in 2006.

The parallel development of a local authority administered Citizen Account under the Modernising Government Fund had by 2006 articulated a need to assign their records a Unique Citizen Reference Number or UCRN,[7] and envisaged associating the Account with "nationally compatible smart cards as service access tokens".[8] The UCRN is maintained as part of Scotland's National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR) data;[9] access to a subset of the Register by Scottish Local Authorities was enabled by s.57 of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006 (the LEARS act).[10] Each Scot on NHSCR is assigned a Unique Citizen Reference Number (UCRN) which local authorities have access to under certain conditions.[11] As the UCRN itself may be linked to NHSCR data and used for verification purposes, a proposed expansion of its use in 2014 raised fears that the UCRN will form the backbone of a Scottish identity register and persistent identification of individuals across Scottish state datasets.[12] The Open Rights Group accused the proposal of creating "a national ID system by the backdoor", despite the Scottish Government's opposition to the UK's previous identity cards scheme.[13] In February 2017 it was announced that the proposed expansion was not to go ahead.[14]

In some areas of Scotland, additional concessionary travel options are available. For example, the NEC issued to those residing in the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) area gives access to additional rail and Glasgow Subway concessions.[25] Similarly, residents of Edinburgh can travel free on the Edinburgh tram using an NEC.[26]

Young Scot is the national youth information and citizenship charity for 11 to 25 year olds in Scotland. All young people of this age who live in Scotland are eligible to receive a free Young Scot National Entitlement Card (Young Scot NEC).[27]

The Young Scot NEC is issued under the Proof of Age Standards Scheme and can therefore be used by a young person to access to age-restricted goods and services.[28] In addition to the travel concessions for Young People when they are eligible, the card also entitles the holder to a number of services and discounts that Young Scot provide.[29]

Young people who living in Scotland and are under 22 years old are eligible for free nationwide bus travel.[30] Young people need a Scottish National Entitlement Card or Young Scot National Entitlement Card to travel.

The NEC has been used for a number of different additional purposes since its introduction. Common uses include access to cashless catering in schools, a means of providing library or leisure membership, or discounted admissions on the basis of age or disability. In other local authority areas, the card may only be used for the national purposes outlined above.[31] Local authorities will normally issue the NEC when a valid application for a service using the NEC is received.[32]

• National Health Service Central Register (Scotland)
• Identity Cards Act 2006