New Identity Suppliers Added To GOV.UK Verify

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has announced a number of new suppliers will be joined a new framework for certified companies in the Identity Assurance Scheme.

GOV.UK Verify is to act as a quick and easy way for individuals to confirm their identity online and is slowing being rolled out across government.

Previously, just Experian and Digidentity were approved suppliers, but GDS has now accepted Barclays, GB Group, Morpho, PayPal, Post Office, Royal Mail and Verizon onto the scheme.

Digidentity, Experian, Post Office and Verizon have call-off contracts under the existing framework and will transition onto the new framework over the next few months.

However Mydex, the fifth company that is part of the existing contract, will not be joining the public beta stage of the identity assurance programme.

GDS claims Barclays, GB Group, Morpho and Royal Mail are set to join GOV.UK Verify “shortly” and timescales in which they will join public beta will be revealed soon.

“The wider range of certified companies will offer people more choice of who they would like to verify their identity and will bring more data and more methods, extending GOV.UK Verify’s demographic coverage and increasing the overall success rate for people attempting to verify,” claims a blog post on the Identity Assurance blog.

Labour MP Concerns

Despite this progress, the GOV.UK Verify project is still behind, as Labour MP Chi Onwurah recently pointed out in a Parliamentary debate.

“I welcome the announcement of a new contractual framework for GOV.UK Verify. However it was only in October that the government were predicting that hundreds of thousands would be verified by now,” claimed Onwurah.

“In fact, only 50% of people are successful the first time they use the service. The [Cabinet Office] Minister [Francis Maude] says that details will be announced ‘shortly.’ Given that there are only a few days left before Parliament is dissolved, will he tell us exactly when he plans to announce the details?

“Specifically, will it include a public sector provider of identity assurance, so that people can choose a provider they trust,” she added.

The government aims for all individuals to be using the identity assurance programme by March 2016, including 500,000 by April this year.

GOV.UK Verify is set to take over from the government’s old identity provider Government Gateway, which the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned has a limited lifespan.

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