Editorial

There are now 4.64m Verify users

Plus, new ‘Digital Identity Unit’ is being set up between Cabinet Office and DCMS to create the right basis for post-Verify public-private sector co-operation

Posted 26 June 2019 by Gary Flood


A new total of 4,464,140 people have now signed up to the official government Digital Identity service, GOV.UK Verify – or, to use its own terms, “the new way for you to prove who you are online so you can use government services safely”.

The data comes from an update up until June 23 just published on GOV.UK, and which also shows that a total of 7.26m – 61.9% – have signed in at least once to use one of the 20 government services accessible with the system.

In the week 17 to 23rd June, some 45,000 new users signed up for the service, while just over 63,000 existing users re-signed in in the same time-frame.

Meanwhile, PublicTechnology.Net reports that DCMS and the Cabinet Office are to set up a new joint Digital Identity Unit.

This body, the site reports, will be all about fostering co-operation between the public and private sectors on Digital Identity as the GOV.UK Verify tool heads into commercial ownership.

The story also notes that Whitehall will shortly launch a consultation on how it can “deliver the effective organisation of the digital identity market” with a focus on how best to ensure interoperability by setting “rules of the road” for private-sector providers – the delivery of which will be the responsibility of the newly-created Digital Identity unit.