Government · UK · Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
77% of UK Adults Have Used a Digital ID Service
Just over three-quarters of UK adults have now proved who they are digitally, and 71% expect digital identity to matter over the next five years. Only 43% are positive about the direction it is heading.
Source published Summarised
Read the full report from Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Key findings at a glance
- 77% of UK adults report having used a digital identity service for at least one purpose
- 81% report at least some understanding of what a digital identity service is, up from 71% at baseline
- 39% prefer digital verification for age-restricted purchases made online, the one scenario where digital outranks physical ID
- 23% prefer digital verification when proving their age in person at a bar, restaurant or cinema
- 71% believe digital identity services will be important over the next five years
- 43% view the current direction of digital identity development in the UK positively
- 24% view the current direction of digital identity development in the UK negatively
- 15% of non-users say no digital option was ever offered to them, a supply gap rather than a demand one
- 12% of non-users cite privacy or security concerns as a reason for staying with physical ID
- 33% of providers now support age verification for online services, roughly double the baseline share
- £2,027 million estimated annual revenue of the UK digital identity sector in 2024/2025
- 9,624 full-time equivalent roles employed in digital identity across the UK, down 6% on the baseline
What the report covers
The Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, published this study on 8 July 2026. It is the second annual assessment of the UK digital identity sector and updates the 2025 baseline study published in May 2025. The research covers both sides of the market: how many firms sell digital identity products and what they earn, and what UK consumers actually think about proving who they are without a passport or driving licence in hand.
On the supply side, researchers identified 275 firms providing digital identity products and services, a net increase of nine on the baseline. The sector generated an estimated £2,027 million in revenue in 2024/2025 and £1,037 million in gross value added, up 17%. Employment moved the other way, falling 6% to 9,624 full-time equivalents, which the report attributes to consolidation, AI adoption and wider technology sector headcount pressure rather than shrinking demand. GVA per employee rose to £107,800, close to the £116,200 recorded for the UK cyber security sector and comfortably above the £89,200 average across the wider digital sector.
On the demand side, a survey of 5,658 UK residents found that 77% have used a digital identity service at least once, most commonly for insurance, credit applications and opening a bank account (each 40%). Provider coverage of age assurance has grown quickly: 33% of firms now support age verification for online services, roughly double the baseline share, which the report links to Online Safety Act implementation. Note that the 77% usage figure is not directly comparable with the baseline, because the survey added new use cases and dropped a validation filter applied last year.
What this means for UK marketers
The temptation is to read the preference data as a verdict on digital identity. It is not. Outright preference for digital verification is a minority position in seven of the nine scenarios tested. But when you add the respondents who are happy with either method, willingness to use digital verification becomes a majority in six of nine, including 59% for online purchases and 61% for government services. The variable is not the user. It is the context.
That gives UK operators a usable rule. Where the interaction already happens on a screen, digital verification is the path of least resistance: 39% prefer it for age-restricted purchases made online, the only scenario where digital beats physical outright. Where the interaction happens face to face, do not force it. Only 23% prefer digital when proving their age in a bar or cinema, against 41% who want to hand over a card. If you sell age-restricted goods online, verification is becoming a checkout step whether you plan for it or not, and it deserves the same treatment as any other step in an ecommerce build: designed in, measured, and tested rather than bolted on when the compliance deadline lands.
Two numbers deserve more attention than they will get. First, 15% of non-users said no digital option had ever been offered to them. That is a supply failure, not consumer resistance, and it sits inside conversion funnels that brands control. Second, only 18% of respondents named data minimisation as a benefit, and 12% of non-users cited privacy concerns. Most people have never been told that a well-built verification flow can confirm they are over 18 without handing the retailer their full date of birth, address and document image. That is a communications gap, and it is one marketers own rather than engineers.
The headline tension is the 71% who expect digital identity to matter set against the 43% who welcome it. Consumers are resigned to this rather than enthusiastic. Brands that explain what is being checked, what is kept and what is discarded, at the moment of verification rather than in a privacy policy nobody opens, will convert better than those that treat the check as an unavoidable tax on the customer. We saw the same pattern in parental support for a social media age cap: public backing for the outcome does not mean public trust in the mechanism. If verification is going to sit in your funnel, treat it as a conversion problem, because that is exactly what it is.
How they got the data
OfDIA commissioned Perspective Economics and Survation to run the study. The market analysis screened over one million active UK company descriptions against a digital identity taxonomy developed with industry stakeholders, then matched the resulting shortlist against Companies House filings, published accounts and web data. Revenue, gross value added and employment are modelled estimates rather than observed totals, because digital identity has no Standard Industrial Classification code of its own. Firm counts, taxonomy classification and investment figures are directly observed.
The consumer research was an online panel survey of 5,658 UK residents fielded by Survation in November 2025 and analysed in February 2026, with an estimated margin of error of 1.3% on aggregate responses. Results were weighted to the profile of UK adults aged 18 and over by age, sex, region, household income, qualification level, employment status, socioeconomic group and ethnicity, using targets derived from ONS data. The survey ran in English, Welsh, Panjabi and Urdu, with booster samples for adults with a long-term disability, adults without a UK or EU passport or driving licence, adults with low digital skills, and adults who have legally changed identity attributes. The baseline wave was unweighted and smaller (3,561 respondents), so the report cautions against time-series comparison on most measures. Sub-group figures drawn from the smallest booster samples should be read as indicative.
Government · UK
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From Department for Science, Innovation and Technology · published 08/07/2026