The UK has finalized version 1.0 of its Digital Verification Services trust framework, setting the rules organizations must follow if they want their identity services certified as trustworthy under the country’s digital identity regime.
The framework was published by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It replaces the March 2026 pre-release version that was issued for business readiness and is now the first revised statutory trust framework under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
The framework will come into force when the first conformity assessment body is accredited to certify against it, which the government says will be no earlier than September 1, 2026. That timing gives providers a path toward certification while also setting a clearer schedule for relying parties that expect to use certified digital verification services.
The mobile identity angle is the framework’s role in normalizing reusable digital credentials for services that would otherwise depend on repeated document checks or in-person verification. Certified providers can support identity and attribute checks across private and public services, allowing users to prove information about themselves without repeatedly presenting physical documents.
The UK has been building the surrounding infrastructure in stages. The government has already opened a government data API to certified digital ID providers, while providers and assessors have been preparing for trust framework certification through the national digital identity and attributes program.
The final version does not itself create a single national ID app. Instead, it establishes the trust rules for a marketplace of certified digital verification services. For consumers, that could eventually mean more consistent ways to prove identity, age, address, right to work, or other attributes through a phone-based service rather than a paper document or manual upload.
Sources: GOV.UK
–
By the Mobile ID World Editorial Team
