Government stays firm on target of 25 million Gov.uk Verify users by 2020

Minister for implementation Oliver Dowden has confirmed the government is still aiming for 25 million users of its Gov.uk Verify identity platform by 2020, despite calls to cancel the project.  

Earlier this month, Computer Weekly reported that the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) recommended the project was terminated, and that government departments are reluctant to keep funding Gov.uk Verify.

This is not the first time the project has been criticised. The government’s identity assurance platform has struggled with delays and low uptake, and identity experts have strongly suggested Verify needs a major overhaul.

Despite calls for the project to be scrapped, Cabinet Office and the Government Digital Service (GDS) continue to plough on with the identity assurance platform.

Answering a parliamentary question from junior shadow Cabinet Office minister Jo Platt on Verify usage implementation minister Oliver Dowden, who is responsible for GDS, said the government plans to “continue to enable individuals to prove their identity online and to access government services securely and safely”.

“We continue to work towards 25 million people having a Gov.uk Verify account by 2020,” he said.

The government is understood to have spent more than £130m on the project, however, so far, there are only a little over 2.7 million people having registered for Verify, and less than half (44%) of all users attempting to create a Verify identity are successful. Currently, Verify is used by 15 government services plus three currently in private beta.

Labour's Jo Platt said it’s clear that Verify is on the verge of collapse.

"The government’s handling of the Verify programme has been shambolic. Having spent years and millions of pounds of public money developing the system, the government can’t even convince their own departments to register – let alone the 25 million users they aspire to,” she told Computer Weekly.

“Not only is it becoming increasingly apparent the government will fail to reach their target registration numbers, those who have tried to register have also experienced an unacceptable number of failures. The government must therefore now review its viability.”

Earlier this year, the then head of Verify, Nic Harrison, who left the role last month (August 2018), admitted the government would not reach the 25 million target on its own, but would have to rely on accounts being created by private services too.