One Login 3 years from completion as UK govt assessment flashes amber light

The UK’s public sector digital ID system will not be completed this year as previously expected, with the deadline for implementation across all central government services pushed back three years to 2028.

The government is planning additional investments in GOV.UK One Login, which PublicTechnology reports could add hundreds of millions of pounds in cost to the single-sign on (SSO) platform for government services.

A government letter seen by the publication confirms that Government Digital Service (GDS) Director of Digital Identity Natalie Jones remains in charge of the program, and indicates that it will work across the whole central government by March 31, 2028.

Previous cost estimates for One Login pegged the price tag at around £329 million (roughly US445 million), up from an original estimate of £305 million ($413 million). Now, another £115 million ($156 million) has been allocated to One Login’s development for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The budget for the two remaining years of the plan is yet to be determined.

A representative of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which oversees the GDS, says One Login is up to 7.8 million users and 80 live services, with 100 more currently in testing. The official also denied that the timeline for delivery had been pushed  back.

“The service originally scoped to onboard 145 services by 2025 and now, because of its success, it will be expanded to bring a further 160 services onto the platform over the following three years to ensure we can capture the full range of benefits and savings for taxpayers,” the unnamed spokesperson told PublicTechnology.

One Login is part of the government major projects portfolio (GMPP), and a GMPP assessment of confidence in the program’s delivery rated it amber last year, cautioning that the program lacked the capacity to meet its delivery goals. That rating has been reiterated in the latest edition. National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) assessors found One Login’s progress is hindered by a complex roadmap and dependence on other departments to onboard users and realize the system’s benefits.

The budget is also an issue, as the assessment says “increased reliance on more expensive managed service providers and contingent labour contractors as a result of civil service headcount caps,” along with onboarding complexity and emerging cybersecurity risks drove up costs.

The challenges came to head when One Login lost its certification under GDS’ own Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) months ago.

Despite these challenges, the assessment also raised the estimate for One Login’s eventual benefits, from £2 billion ($2.7 billion) to over £3.6 billion ($4.9 billion).

“Three years in, GOV.UK One Login is now the market-leading account and identity verification solution for government, offering best-in-class performance against key metrics of inclusion, success rates, and fraud prevention,” the document confirming Jones as “senior responsible owner” states.

The letter also argues that “(p)rivate sector providers lack the incentive or capacity to deliver an integrated solution that aligns with the specific needs of the government, particularly in terms of inclusion, resilience, and fraud prevention.”

At the same time, the government relies on private sector technology suppliers to deliver One Login’s biometric identity proofing and authentication capabilities. A privacy notice for One Login recently revealed that Veriff is iProov’s subcontractor, along with Inverid, for online identity verification through the GOV.UK ID Check app and the GOV.UK One Login app.

No changes are reported to the anticipated delivery dates for a UK mDL later this year and the GOV.UK digital wallet by the end of 2027.

Article Topics

Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT)  |  digital identity  |  government services  |  identity proofing  |  One Login  |  single sign-on  |  UK digital ID