We recently launched the second year of the inclusion monitoring report survey for certified digital verification services. It is compulsory for services certified against the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework to complete the survey.
The purpose of the inclusion monitoring report is to build a picture of how inclusive the digital identity market in the UK is. The data gathered is anonymised and used to tell us in OfDIA what changes might need to be made to increase inclusion – for example by changing the trust framework.
2024 results: what changes have we made to the trust framework
You can read our blog post that summarises the key findings from the 2024 report or read the full report on GOV.UK.
The data from the 2024 surveys informed our approach to a few key areas:
- Strengthening accessibility rules in the trust framework
54% of certified services reported that they adhered to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (AA) or higher. However, 27% of services answered that they did not know if their service met this standard.
Along with other feedback gathered by the team, this finding informed the decision to strengthen accessibility requirements in the latest version of the trust framework (0.4) to ensure that more certified services are meeting these, or equivalent, standards.
- Making it easier for services to accommodate vouching
Vouching is when a person confirms the identity of another person in a formal declaration. This is typically used as a method for proving identity when the person doesn’t have traditional identity documents (e.g. for a child getting their first passport). Vouching can therefore offer an important potential route to improve identity inclusion for those without these documents. Two certified services reported that they currently support vouching as a means of proving identity.
We are reviewing the vouching guidance to look at how it can better accommodate digital identity verification with the aim that more services may be able to offer this route in future.
- Adding trust framework rules on testing biometric technologies
The 2024 data showed that certified services are inconsistent in how they assess potential bias in the biometric technologies they use.
To address this, we have introduced more specific requirements about the types of testing for biometric technologies in the latest trust framework (0.4) to ensure that all certified services undergo robust testing. This decision was also supported by feedback on the trust framework 0.3.
Improving the survey for 2025
Last year we made some changes to the inclusion monitoring report survey to improve the range and quality of data collected and we are continuing with this new format.
This year’s survey is broadly similar to last year’s to ensure we have consistent data points to compare year on year. However, based on feedback from services and our analysis of last year's results we’ve made a number of small improvements:
- New questions to understand more about the service to improve the detail of our analysis. For example, are services offering reusable and/or single-use digital identities or attributes and is the service cloud- or device-based
- New questions on the average number of customers and average number of checks conducted each month
- New questions on how any data on the reasons for drop-outs or unsuccessful checks is collected
- Removal of a small number of questions from the technology section that did not produce useful results, such as a question on the oldest operating system a service would be compatible with on a user's device
We’ve also introduced a way for providers to download a copy of their answers to enable better record-keeping if providers wish to review or track their own performance each year.
The 2025 inclusion monitoring report survey has been sent to certified providers and the deadline for completing is 3 March. We will publish a report on the results once the analysis is complete.
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