GOV.UK One Login bank account identity verification, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): The UK government has provided an update on a planned bank account login change for GOV.UK One Login, a system used by around 23 million Britons to access services including DWP benefits and State Pension information, HMRC tax records and National Insurance details, and DVLA driving licence renewals.
The platform was launched to give people a single account for accessing government services online. Senior MPs have raised concerns that the scheme could be susceptible to hackers, with one describing it as “scandalously insecure.” The government maintains that the system reduces fraud and is designed to make access safer and quicker.
Responding to a question from Devon MP Martin Wrigley about the adequacy of One Login for people who have difficulty confirming their identity, minister Stephanie Peacock said the government is committed to making the platform as accessible as possible while protecting users and the government from fraud. She said users can currently prove their identity through the app, online security questions, or in person at the Post Office.
Peacock said the government is expanding identity verification options, including a new option launching next year that will allow users to prove their identity by securely logging into their bank account. She also said people receiving Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can already use information about their benefit to help prove their identity, and that the government is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to extend this to a wider range of benefits.
Where users cannot or choose not to use GOV.UK One Login, Peacock said government services are required to provide alternative routes. The DWP said in May that people could use the platform to get proof of their benefits or State Pension online, with claimants able to download a benefits letter or request a printed copy by post.
The government also announced in September that passkeys were being introduced across One Login. Officials say passkeys allow users to sign in using a PIN, Face ID or fingerprint rather than a password, and that passkey logins are up to eight times quicker than signing in with a username, password and two-step verification code.
The government says passkeys can help protect people from phishing and other cyber threats.
Veteran Conservative MP David Davis has long opposed the scheme and described One Login as a “strategic weakness” during a Westminster Hall debate late last year. He warned that the system could leave people vulnerable to hackers, criminals and foreign nations, and suggested the consequences could be worse than the Horizon scandal.
Davis cited a 2022 concern raised by an information assurance team about development on unsecured workstations by contractors who lacked security clearance.
The government has dismissed this analysis, saying One Login follows the highest security standards used across government and the private sector and is fully compliant with UK data protection and privacy laws. A government spokesperson said the system undergoes regular security reviews and testing, including by independent third parties.
During the same debate, Labour MP Iqbal Mohamed said the country had been “crying out for joined-up government for decades,” but said his constituents and millions of others were opposed to the scheme because they saw breaches of civil liberties without seeing its benefits. Jonathon Ellison, National Cyber Security Centre Director for National Resilience, said in September that passkeys offer a faster, simpler and more secure way to sign in and are a phishing-resistant alternative to passwords.
