UK government officially shuts down beleaguered Verify ID service
The UK government’s controversial GOV.UK Verify platform has been closed down for good following an announcement that no public services were using it to support user logins.
The platform, developed by the Government Digital Service (GDS), was operational for just under seven years prior to its closure, having launched several years behind schedule in 2016. Problems with the registration process, lower than anticipated user numbers, and the decision of key departments to develop their own ID verification systems were all contributing factors to its discontinuation.
Users still needing access to Verify services were told via the platform’s guidance page: “The service you need to use will make it clear how to access it instead. It may have got in touch with you directly, such as by email, or it may make it clear in the service itself. Contact the service you need if you’re not sure.”
GDS began planning the winddown of the platform in late 2021, with fewer and fewer public services relying on it over time. The number of services attached to it stood at 17 at the start of 2022, decreasing to three at the start of 2023. Shortly after, Verify’s last two identity providers, Digidentity and the Post Office, stopped taking new sign-ups.
The platform gave citizen users warning that the shutdown meant that the Post Office would automatically delete all user accounts. Meanwhile, Digidentity is expected to delete accounts “after two years of inactivity” though users will be free to close their own accounts before then.
However, the guidance added that after full closure, both accounts would retain some user information for “audit, counter-fraud and record keeping reasons”, all of which it added “is in line with their privacy statements”.
Read more: UK steps back from Verify ID system
End in the beginning
In a programme assessment published last year, Alex Chisholm, the UK civil service’s chief operating officer, showed that the use of Verify had topped out at 27 government services and 10 million individual accounts. Chisholm added that the platform’s total costs to the end of the 2021/22 year stood at £233.3m (US$291m), and had created “£485.3m [US$605.4m] in monetised benefits”.
Verify was criticised early in its inception. A report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the operation had been marked by “poor decisions compounded by a failure to take accountability”.
In its report summary, the PAC added: “[Verify] was heralded as a flagship digital programme for government, but three years after it went live, the programme has not delivered value for money and members of the public using the system have been hampered by a catalogue of problems, including difficulty signing up and accessing multiple government services.”
It said that only 19 government services adopted Verify, “fewer than half the number expected”, with just 3.9 million people having signed up, compared to the 25 million users forecast to be active by 2020.
“Despite over 20 internal and external reviews, [GDS] and the Cabinet Office have failed to get the programme on track”, the summary said. It stressed that those worst affected by Verify’s dysfunction were vulnerable groups including those applying for the Universal Credit welfare benefit.
Read more: UK government outlines skills challenges in digital transformation plan
One Login
The government’s new One Login system is now expected to replace Verify as a port of access to all government services based on a single reusable digital ID. It is expected to incorporate many of the lessons learned from the failures of Verify.
GDS, which is part of the UK Cabinet Office, began a public consultation on data sharing powers between departments this year to help develop and implement the One Login system. The consultation closed on 1 March, having gathered views about how data sharing should work under a proposed amendment to the UK’s 2017 Digital Economy Act.
One Login is currently being piloted, with departments having put in place an adoption strategy and roadmap. The aim is that all department begin using One Login by 2025.
In a summary of its impact assessment of the draft data sharing legislation, the government said One Login would aim to improve user experience for citizens underserved or let down by the Verify system, including young people and citizens with disabilities.
Read more: UK Cabinet Office seeks feedback on data sharing legislation to develop digital ID
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About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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