GOV.UK One Login faces barriers to adoption

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has uncovered a number of challenges to its GOV.UK One Login digital identity scheme.

GDS has undertaken 150 rounds of research with more than 2,000 participants, detailing their lived experience of proving digital identities and using the service.

The research found that a small but significant margin (4-9 percent) of users did not have the evidence for identification which is critical to digital identity verification.

A larger proportion of users, and a significant barrier for GOV.UK One Login, struggle with having enough credit history for identification, if they were using the security questions route. This is because a person may not have a mobile phone contract, as well as an active bank account, credit cards, loans, or mortgages used to establish a financial UK digital footprint.

“Translating exactly what ‘for everyone’ looks like in the context of identity proofing is not an easy task. There can be many barriers for a user to complete an identity journey and gain access to government services. Our work has shown that these not only exist for various user groups, but they are overlapping in nature and not easy to overcome,” GDS said in a blog post.

Barriers to adoption for young people

However, GDS revealed the most surprising finding were the barriers for users under the age of 17.

• Only four percent have enough financial or government footprint for identification
• 46 percent don’t have a phone number (they have a mobile but without a phone number)
• 20 percent don’t have an email address
• 42 percent have difficulty completing online tasks and therefore need help from friends and family
• Users in the 13-17 year old group are between 20 percent and 33 percent less likely to be able to prove their identity through our service compared to the average potential user.

“Young people (aged 24 and under) will be the first generation to have just one government account, it’s crucial that we get it right for them,” said GDS. “From applying for their first apprenticeship to signing their mortgage deed, they will rely on their GOV.UK One Login account throughout their lives, which will transform the way they access government services for years to come.”

As a result of the findings, GDS in exploring how GOV.UK One Login can best proceed with its product roadmap. Specifically, it is focused on access to identification, mobile usage, lack of email, and increasing digital confidence.