UK pubs to accept digital ID for age assurance by Christmas 2025

By the end of 2025, UK pubgoers will never again have to fumble around in their wallets for a scratched ID card, with the announcement that mobile digital ID will soon be accepted for age assurance in drinking establishments and retail outlets.

A release from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology says that people will be able to “choose to use digital identities on their phones to prove their age when buying alcohol in high street pubs, clubs and shops – allowing landlords to serve pints more easily and reducing hassle in grocery queues.”

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle says that, “by next Christmas, you won’t need to carry a wallet or risk losing important documents like your passport or driver’s license when heading out to celebrate. With a certified digital identity on your phone, you can raise a glass in your local pub without hassle – a merry step forward in making age verification safer, easier, and more convenient for everyone.”

Digital identity services for proof of age must be certified against the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), an initiative to create a secure and interoperable system for digital identity verification, and registered on the GOV.UK list. Pubowners will be able to choose among more than 50 digital verification service providers certified against DIATF.

A government blog post outlining the process for using digital identity to buy alcohol safely and securely notes that, in addition to compliance with DIATF standards, secure binding provided by biometric authentication adds another layer of protection.

On top of convenience and security, the push for digital IDs promises to “drive economic growth that will ultimately put more money in people’s pockets.” Per the government release, the digital identity sector generated £2 billion in revenue in the UK last year and employed over 10,000 people, half of which were outside London.

It is also being pitched as a safety feature for women, who will be able to use digital ID to prove age without revealing any other information, such as their address.

Consult shows support for digital ID but age estimation on hold

The move comes following a 2024 government consultation on whether digital ID and other age assurance tools, including age estimation, should be “allowed to play a role in determining whether someone is old enough to purchase alcohol.”

The results of that exercise show 72 percent of respondents supporting amendments to the Licensing Act 2003 allowing the use of digital identities as proof of age in the sale of alcohol.

A small majority says amendments should allow the use of “other age assurance technologies” as proof of age for alcohol sales in all settings. However, the government has “not yet introduced a framework covering all age assurance technology, with age estimation technology outside the scope of the trust framework underpinned by the Data Bill.”

“Accordingly, the government does not intend at this time to allow the use of age estimation technology as part of the age verification process for alcohol sales.”

Digital ID providers critique FAE rule, question governance

Robin Tombs, CEO of age assurance provider Yoti, believes the age estimation exclusion is a mistake. In a comment posted on LinkedIn, he says “the facial age estimation (FAE) news, whilst expected, is a big blow” for his firm.

“The UK has led the world in FAE over the last 6 years but despite the successful supermarket self checkout trials completed in June 2022, the Home Office alcohol team has not seriously discussed this important FAE tech with Yoti since then,” Tombs writes.

He says that the rule will lead to the loss of tech talent in facial age estimation. “The UK’s loss of jobs and expertise has been a gain for Spain and India. Tech and markets do not stand still.

If the UK Govt is serious about its messaging regarding encouraging investment in innovation, high tech jobs and economic growth, it needs to accelerate its regulation of FAE for alcohol sales in supermarkets and other licensed premises.”

Luciditi CTO Philip Young tells Biometric Update in an email that a key question remaining to be answered is whether the Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) will be named the operator of the DIATF “supplementary code/scheme” or if OfDIA will take on the responsibility.

“The digital acceptance solution (dPASS 5.1) is in process of being developed for PASS by Fujitsu but this could well be handled by OfDIA,” Young writes. “That will inevitably slow things down unless OfDIA take over and continue to use Fujitsu as there has been a significant amount of stakeholder engagement which takes time, particularly for supermarkets who have long lead times for technology implementation across their point of sale estate. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the expertise of PASS will be utilized even if OfDIA take over.”

Luciditi’s Age Proof digital ID was the first digital credential certified by PASS in 2023.

Digital identity ad featuring ID card stooge angers SkyNews commentator

Using digital ID on a mobile phone is optional – and physical IDs, of course, will still be accepted for proof of age.

That’s not enough for some Australian commentators. In a segment on Sky News, Freya Leach of the Menzies Research Centre gives thumbs-down to a UK government ad campaign announcing the change, in which a pubgoer is comically depicted floundering for a physical ID card.

Leach says the ad “left a very sour taste in my mouth” and argues that “depicting anyone that prefers the old-school ID as somehow stupid or bumbling is just insulting.”

But she goes on to admit that “on this one I might be a little contrarian,” and that, as a user of New South Wales’ digital ID, “I don’t even carry a wallet around anymore.”

With files from Masha Borak

Article Topics

age verification  |  Arissian  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  face biometrics  |  Luciditi  |  OfDIA  |  UK age verification  |  UK digital ID  |  Yoti