2022 has got off to a great start for everyone involved in Digital ID in the UK. Last week the Home Office followed up their announcement of 27 December 2021 by outlining further details to techUK Digital ID Working Group Members on the changes to legislation made from 6th April 2022 which will allow certified Digital ID Providers to offer identity services for Right To Work, Right To Rent and Disclosure & Barring Service checks from that date. More details on how the Scheme will work (including the certification process) can be found at the Home Office website here.
This welcome development from the Home Office will allow DCMS and the certified Digital ID Providers participating to undertake real-world' testing of the UK Digital Identity & Attributes Trust Framework in action.
DCMS have also this week published a guidance document for Digital ID Providers on how they can become certified to provide Digital ID services to the Home Office Scheme which can be accessed here.
Whilst this announcement is a positive step forward, there are still significant challenges to overcome to ensure that the Digital ID market in the UK continues to flourish, delivering security and ease of use for Citizen-Users as well as minimal business impact to relying parties, Digital ID providers and other key stakeholders. techUK's work on Digital ID continues into 2022 and will include a White Paper and our Digital ID External Events Series (you can watch all the Digital ID Events Series sessions from 2021 here.)
If you would be interested in understanding more about techUK's work on Digital ID please get in touch.