In December 2024, the then Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced that changes would be made to the Mandatory Licence Conditions (MLCs) under the Licensing Act 2003 to allow digital verification services (DVS) to be used as proof of age for alcohol sales in England and Wales. We remain committed to making those changes.
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Considerations for the new requirements
Since the announcement, the Home Office has been considering what requirements would be necessary and appropriate for enabling the use of a DVS for age verification for the sale of alcohol in England and Wales. It is clearly important to ensure the process is robust and secure.
The OfDIA team has been helping the Home Office to consider and test possible requirements for age verification, given our links with stakeholders from the DVS, and retail and hospitality sectors. In light of this, the Home Office has been considering the following conditions which may need to be satisfied in respect of the digital information used for this age verification:
- Has it been created and shared by a service on the statutory DVS register?
Only services that have been certified against government requirements – the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework – can appear on the DVS register. - Is it bound to the user at the point of issuance and at the point of presentation?
Binding is the process to ensure that a digital identity belongs to the person presenting it. - Has it been appropriately validated by the responsible person?
Checking the validity of the digital information helps ensure it has not been tampered with. Visual inspection isn’t normally a reliable way to tell if digital evidence is valid. - Does it confirm that the user meets the age requirement in the venue’s age verification policy?
Premises that sell alcohol in England and Wales must have an age verification policy in place to prevent sales to individuals under 18. - Does it come from an identity which has been verified to at least a ‘medium’ level of confidence?
A medium level of confidence is defined in Good Practice Guide 45 (GPG45), which is referred to in the digital identity and attributes trust framework. Whether a service can achieve a medium level of confidence is listed on their entry on the statutory DVS register.
What next?
The Home Office is committed to making this change and is working on drafting the secondary legislation (a statutory instrument) in light of the considerations above.
This is a complex area of law, and it has not been possible to change the MLCs last year as had been planned. The Home Office is working at pace with a view to making the changes as soon as possible this year.
What happens after the legal changes are made?
For DVS to be widely adopted as proof of age for alcohol sales in England and Wales, there is more to be done than simply changing the law.
We envisage the following steps:
- The Statutory Instrument (SI) to amend the MLCs for England and Wales will be debated in both Houses and if passed, receive Royal Assent and become law. The section 182 statutory guidance will also be updated in due course.
- The Business Companion guidance published by Trading Standards will be updated.
- Licensed premises will need to find one or multiple DVS to work with that meets their requirements and develop contractual arrangements accordingly.
- Licensed premises will need to update their age verification policies and develop and run staff training.
- Individuals will need to understand where they can use a DVS, and set one up in advance of trying to purchase alcohol using a DVS.
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