Speaking out on the UK’s digital public roadmap, to a global audience at Identity Week Europe last week, John Peart, CEO of the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) categorised the digital identity principles and standards set by the government under the mantle of the UK Digital Verification Services Trust Framework. Over time, the government has built a trusted directory of identity providers it contracts to deliver national identity verification systems, but also endorses the private sector market. The government supports sectors embracing the criteria and standards around digital verification and creates public trust in a system that operates across both government and private providers.
As it stands, the UK government is consulting on the introduction of a free digital ID credential, although has retracted making it mandatory to use. It aims to make digital verification systems more inclusive with a focus on digital wallets. Gov.UK one login, access via gov.uk
Last year, they rolled out veterans cards and this year completed a friends and family trial in digital formats for the first time in the UK.
Underpinning the trust in providers has been important in a history of developments from Gov.UK One Login to now.
John Peart delivered a fresh presentation on the UK’s approach to delivering trusted digital identity at scale, opening the conference programme at the RAI Exhibition Centre. As the head of OfDIA, a regulatory body nestled within the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), Peart focuses heavily on how robust governance, government-backed frameworks, and private-public collaboration are transforming digital trust.
He thinks we need more common standards and independent assurances underpinned by legislation and have robust public registers to validate trust in services and credentials.
The trust framework trust mark is issued to companies on the register to provide those assurances in the market and the Data Use and Access Act also gives digital verification services credibility as trust anchors for the UK digital economy.
In one of many use cases, citizens will prove their age to buy alcohol using a biometric credential to provide proof of age.
Providers apps are interoperable and verifier service, wallet and identity creation providers are assessed and accepted onto the register.
They have to meet a conformity assessment. Validated providers contribute £2 billion to the economy.
He outlined how government-backed digital identity frameworks can create a stable baseline of trust for both commercial enterprises and public sector applications, emphasising the necessity of creating standards that allow different digital wallets and verification platforms to smoothly communicate without compromising privacy.
