UK's Digital ID walks into a bar... two months after being killed off

Britain killed off its national digital ID scheme this summer, but from today you can use a digital ID to prove you're old enough to buy a pint.

New rules taking effect on Tuesday allow pubs, bars, restaurants, music venues and shops in England and Wales to accept digital proof of age when selling alcohol, meaning customers can use an app on their phone instead of digging around for a driving license or passport.

The change is voluntary.

Businesses don't have to accept digital proof of age, customers don't have to use it, and the government admits the technology will take time to gain wide support.

So anyone planning to leave their wallet at home tonight may want to check with the pub first.

Still, it gives digital identity technology a conspicuously everyday new job just two months after Prime Minister Andy Burnham pulled the plug on his predecessor's much grander national Digital ID scheme.

That project, announced under Keir Starmer, would have created a government-backed digital credential and eventually made digital right-to-work checks mandatory.

Burnham ditched the scheme in July, with his government saying the money and resources earmarked for it would be redirected elsewhere.

Digital identity itself, however, wasn't buried with it.

The new alcohol rules rely on the UK's existing Digital Verification Services (DVS) framework.

To be accepted for booze purchases, digital proof of age must be provided through a DVS certified against the government's trust framework and listed on its statutory register.

The government confirmed earlier this month that while the national Digital ID program announced under Starmer has been binned, GOV.UK One Login, GOV.UK Wallet and the existing framework for private-sector digital verification services will continue.

The DVS framework predates Starmer's national Digital ID plan.

The government is also keeping its planned digital driving license alive.