This short OIX paper recommends the approach UK Government might take to make Digital Identity in the UK a success in 2021. The paper also highlights the actions OIX proposes to undertake over the next few months to support this success.

The papers key recommendations to achieve success can be summarized as:

• The UK Trust Framework must be pitched as the right level: not too hard and not too soft. This will allow sector specialisation, a competitive market and continued innovation.
• The Oversight Authority for digital identity should be a public-private partnership, whose remit includes innovation and evolution of digital identity services in the UK.
• The buyers of digital identities – relying parties – need education and support in order to understand the benefits digital identity and to build business cases for adoption.
• Ensure that digital identity is Inclusive. Prioritise access to government data sets on the basis of the inclusivity improvement that each data set will bring.
• Any fees for access to government data sources must be of a level that will allow cost efficiencies to be achieved over and above using existing ID verification approaches.

OIX proposes to support UK government to achieve its objectives for digital identity through a combination of:

• Feedback on the ALPHA UK Trust Framework
• Recommendations for the formation and governance of the Oversight Body for Digital ID in the UK, and an accompanying Trustmark.
• Engagement with private sector digital identity initiatives in finance, pensions, age, property conveyancing and employment vetting to raise awareness of the UK Trust Framework and drive for interoperability, commonality and alignment.
• Creation of an Inclusion Segmentation that will enable the prioritization of government data sets that drive the biggest improvements in inclusion.