UK's Digital ID walks into a bar... two months after being killed off

Britain killed off its national digital ID scheme this summer, but from today you can use a digital ID to prove you're old enough to buy a pint. New rules taking effect on Tuesday allow pubs, bars, restaurants, music venues and shops in England and Wales to accept digital proof of age when selling alcohol, meaning customers can use an app on their phone instead of digging around for a driving license or passport. The change is voluntary. Businesses don't have to accept digital proof of age, customers don't have to use it, and the government admits the technology will take time to gain wide support. So anyone planning to leave their wallet at home tonight may want to check with the pub first. Still, it gives digital identity technology a conspicuously everyday new job just two months after Prime Minister Andy Burnham pulled the plug on his predecessor's much grander national Digital ID scheme. That project, announced under Keir Starmer, would have created a government-backed digital credential and eventually made digital right-to-work checks mandatory. Burnham ditched the scheme in July, with his government saying the money and resources earmarked for it would be redirected elsewhere. Digital identity itself, however, wasn't buried with it. The new alcohol rules rely on the UK's existing Digital Verification Services (DVS) framework. To be accepted for booze purchases, digital proof of age must be provided through a DVS certified against the government's trust framework and listed on its statutory register. The government confirmed earlier this month that while the national Digital ID program announced under Starmer has been binned, GOV.UK One Login, GOV.UK Wallet and the existing framework for private-sector digital verification services will continue. The DVS framework predates Starmer's national Digital ID plan. The government is also keeping its planned digital driving license alive. It says GOV.UK Wallet and the digital driving license are separate from the digital proof-of-age services becoming usable today, although the wallet is expected eventually to offer another way for people to prove their age when buying alcohol. For now, third-party providers get first crack at the bar. Yoti says its Yoti ID and Post Office EasyID apps can now be used as proof of age where businesses choose to accept them, while Luciditi says its ID verification service is being integrated into point-of-sale and Challenge 25 systems. This isn't simply a case of waving a phone at whoever happens to be behind the bar. Businesses accepting digital proof must use a registered DVS, rather than relying on someone eyeballing an app or, worse, a screenshot of somebody else's ID. The ID must meet at least a "medium level of confidence," and providers need a way to check it belongs to the person holding the phone. How they do that is largely up to them. In practice, the government reckons the experience could be as simple as showing a QR code for staff to scan or tapping a phone against a compatible reader. Rather than handing over a driving license containing a name, address and date of birth, the customer can share confirmation that they're over 18. There are limits. Facial age estimation and other age-assurance technologies aren't covered by the change and can't substitute for a registered DVS when carrying out a digital alcohol age check. Digital proof can be used at self-service checkouts, but retailers still need humans around to deal with such stubbornly analog problems as drunk customers and adults buying booze for children. So Britain's grand national Digital ID may have joined the long list of government technology projects that didn't make it to the finish line, but the infrastructure around it is still finding its way into daily life. Starting with the important stuff: getting served. ®