The New Era of Age Verification in the UK 

The New Era of Age Verification in the UK 

The UK is experiencing a wave of technological and regulatory innovation in identity verification, reshaping the way people prove their age and identity in various contexts, particularly in retail. From the legalisation of Digital IDs for alcohol sales to advancements in biometric tools like Age Estimation technology, retailers are preparing to adapt their practices.  

Digital ID and Alcohol Sales 

In 2025, the alcohol licensing legislation will be updated to allow the use of Digital ID for verifying age during alcohol sales. This change presents an opportunity for retailers to embrace a secure, efficient, and privacy-friendly method of conducting age verification. Digital identity services allow users to share only the specific information required for identity or age verification without needing physical documents, which expose customers’ personal details such as sex and address.  

The Government, spearheaded by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), is rolling out initiatives like the Data (Use and Access) Bill to streamline and modernise digital verification. These efforts promise to make identity and age checks more secure, efficient, and user-friendly while avoiding the creation of mandatory Digital IDs.  

For retailers, this means customers can increasingly rely on digital tools for proof of age. There are currently two private Digital ID providers who are PASS Level 5 accredited, these are Luciditi and YOTI. This technology offers privacy-preserving methods for proving identity or age and has been approved by the UK Government as a valid proof-of-age solution.  As of January 18, the Government has also announced plans to make digital driver’s licenses available in 2025, which will allow users an alternative option for digital proof of age.  

How will this impact retailers? 

For retailers, adopting Digital IDs involves establishing clear acceptance policies: 

• What will you accept? Will your staff be trained to accept holographic features, scan QR codes from Digital ID applications, or both? 

• System readiness: Will your business need technical updates to enable scanning and authentication, or can your existing infrastructure handle the change? 

• Staff training: How do you ensure employees are equipped to accurately assess Digital IDs and handle any discrepancies? 

Digital ID Acceptance Audits  

Building customer confidence is essential for successful Digital ID implementation. As of our 2023 audit tests, acceptance levels of Digital IDs were low. As legislation continues to move in favour of these technologies, we expect to see retailers' acceptance becoming more of a priority in 2025.  

Serve Legal provides Digital ID acceptance audits to help businesses evaluate and enhance their readiness. These audits offer valuable insights into staff knowledge and confidence in accepting digital forms of identification to ensure the customer experience is as positive and frictionless as possible.  

These audits assess whether employees understand which forms of Digital ID are acceptable, know how to identify valid IDs, and determine if customers are properly approved to complete purchases. As with all Serve Legal programmes, we are able to create bespoke audit processes to target your business’ direct needs.  

As we expect Digital IDs to grow in popularity, it’s crucial for retailers to ensure their staff are well-trained and processes are robust. This reduces potential friction between employees and customers while minimising lost revenue from rejected sales.  

Maintaining Physical ID Verification 

The Government has been explicitly clear that Digital ID with not become mandatory for businesses or customers following the 2025 legislative changes. Businesses must be prepared to continue accepting physical forms of ID, in addition to the newly available Digital IDs. During this time of change, it is important to ensure compliance standards do not fall short, no matter the proof of age being presented.  

This includes ensuring employees are skilled at recognising fraudulent physical and Digital IDs and maintaining compliance standards, particularly in environments like self-checkouts, where oversight can be more challenging. 

Age Estimation to be Delayed 

One of the other transformative changes we expect to see in the next couple of years is the increasing deployment of Age Estimation technology at retail checkouts. However, the Government’ latest update has confirmed that the legalisation of Age Estimation for alcohol sales will not be a priority in 2025.   

Whereas Digital ID offers a mobile-based form of PASS accredited identification, with the same level of authenticity as a passport or driver’s license, Age Estimation technology is embedded into the till transaction. This innovation leverages facial biometrics to estimate a shopper's age, reducing the need for physical documents or human intervention. Through the scan of a camera, this technology will be able to estimate the age of the customer, to decide whether staff need to be notified to challenge the customer for their proof of age.  

Key features of facial Age Estimation technology include:  

• Accuracy and Privacy: These tools analyse facial features to estimate age in a way that protects customer privacy, with no images or personal data stored. 

• Customer Convenience: Shoppers estimated to be over 25 will not need to be challenged, creating a more seamless checkout experience. 

• Integration at Self-Checkouts: Age estimation tools promise to reduce reliance on employees to manually approve age-restricted purchases for customers clearly aged over 25. Retailers are likely to capitalise on this technology at self-checkout in particular.  

• Time and Cost: These systems will work overtime as an additional shop assistant to verify who needs to be challenged for identification at every transaction, providing huge efficiencies for retailers and result in cost and time savings. 

Research conducted by the Government’s Alcohol Licensing Age Verification Consultation saw 56% of respondents keen to introduce other age assurance technologies for proof of age as part of the sale of alcohol. Those who disagreed with this proposal raised concerns around the accuracy of the technology and the impact it would have on protected groups and individual’s privacy. As of December 21, 2024, the Government acknowledged that it has not yet established a framework encompassing all age verification technologies, with Age Estimation tools falling outside the trust framework supported by the Data Bill. As a result, the Government will not be allowing the use of Age Estimation technology for the sale of alcohol.   

Until the Government supports the use of Age Estimation technology for alcohol purchases it is likely that many retailers will avoid investment. The costs and challenges of making an operational shift within a business, such as implementing a new age verification system, are often vast. To train staff on a process which is only valid for several age-restricted items, and not alcohol, will likely cause confusion and may create friction between staff and customers.  At Serve Legal, our clients tell us that until a time when this technology can be used for all age restricted products, they will delay investing.   

How Can Serve Legal Support Compliance? 

Serve Legal has developed tools and partnerships to assist businesses in seamlessly integrating digital verification technologies while meeting compliance requirements. In addition to our Digital ID acceptance audits, previously outlined, we offer: 

Audit and Pilot Testing 

As a result of Age Estimation technology not yet being available for alcohol purchases, it is important for the industry to prove that this technology is not only trustworthy, but a smart investment into innovative technology. This is where professional testing comes in.  

When adopting new systems, Serve Legal encourage businesses to conduct independent audits to ensure the technology meets regulatory standards and performs reliably in their sites. Simple adjustments such as location, lighting and users can highlight flaws in a system which were not apparent during controlled testing. During pilot testing, we evaluate systems under real-world conditions, identifying areas for improvement and building trust with users.  

Our partnership with Durham University has positioned us to provide an academically backed, certification service to our clients, ensuring thresholds are precise and errors are minimised. We are thrilled to share that the official announcement of Serve Legal's new service is just weeks away. We look forward to sharing details with you shortly.  

Ethically Curated Testing Frameworks 

At Serve Legal, we are proud of our unique people powered approach. Through our ever-evolving team of 10,000 unique identities, we have developed a dataset specifically designed for testing Age Estimation technologies. These rigorous frameworks:  

• Evaluate fairness across demographics

• Ensure accuracy

• Bias identification to support mitigation

• Build confidence in the deployability of these systems

Special Focus on Liveness Detection 

Liveness detection technology, a feature integrated into leading biometric systems, enhances security by detecting that the software is being interacted with by a living person in order to prevent fraudulent attempts to circumvent the technology. In addition to our Age Estimation services, Serve Legal delivers testing for leading liveness detection providers to test and refine these capabilities, offering businesses peace of mind in their adoption.  

Supporting Businesses to Prepare for the Future 

Digital ID systems are revolutionising retail practices, offering modern solutions to long-standing challenges. But with innovation comes responsibility: businesses must ensure their processes remain trustworthy, compliant, and inclusive.  

Serve Legal work to equip retailers to navigate these changes with confidence. From rigorous pilot programmes to continuous audits and advanced framework testing, our expertise helps businesses thrive in what we believe will be a rapidly evolving market.