Using GOV.UK Wallet in the digital identity sector
Organisations certified against the trust framework will be able to use the information in GOV.UK Wallet.
GOV.UK Wallet lets users prove things about themselves using government-issued documents safely stored on their phone. It’s secured by GOV.UK One Login and a proven identity.
Users can choose to share documents with a digital verification service, which will be able to access, verify, and use the information on offer.
The powers to access and use the information are laid out in the Data (Use and Access) Bill. Digital verification services will first need to be certified against the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework, and added to the digital identity and attribute services register.
How digital verification services can use GOV.UK Wallet
Once on the register, digital verification services will be able to use GOV.UK Wallet in 2 ways. They could do any, or all, of the following:
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Use the information in GOV.UK Wallet to offer a range of identity and attribute services.
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Share information from GOV.UK Wallet with other businesses who need to prove information about an individual.
Find out more about how this will work in our technical documentation.
1. Using the information in GOV.UK Wallet
If certified as an identity or attribute service provider, services can use the information in GOV.UK Wallet to help someone prove something about themselves digitally. This is similar to how this is done now using physical documents.
If they are also certified as a holder service, they could use information from GOV.UK Wallet to create a new reusable digital identity document. This is also known as a ‘derived credential’. It could either prove specific things like age, or contain a range of different identity or other eligibility information.
2. Sharing GOV.UK Wallet information with other businesses
Businesses certified as orchestration service providers could in future share information from GOV.UK Wallet with another business to prove something about a user. An example would be a retailer using GOV.UK Wallet to verify a customer’s eligibility to buy age-restricted products, such as alcohol or energy drinks.
There’ll be no record of where the documents in GOV.UK Wallet have been used, or for what purpose.
What’s in GOV.UK Wallet
GOV.UK Wallet currently holds the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card. This will be followed by the digital driving licence.
Only government issued documents can be saved in GOV.UK Wallet. Users will not be able to save other types of documents, for example train or concert tickets.
What’s next
You can:
- contact our engagement team at govukwallet-queries@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk if you’d like to know more about how you could use GOV.UK Wallet
- request access to our sandbox
- look at our technical documentation, and give us feedback
- find out more about how to be certified against the trust framework
Updates to this page
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Updated to include mention of the sandbox
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Updated to say the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card is now available
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First published.