UK digital identity and attributes trust framework

What it is

"The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is the certification scheme owner for the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework. It publishes, maintains and interprets the trust framework and its associated certification scheme."

"On a day-to-day basis, the trust framework and the associated certification scheme are managed by officials working in the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), which is an office within DSIT."

The trust framework is a published rulebook; certification is a separate instrument issued to a provider by an accredited conformity assessment body under that rulebook — the framework itself is not a certificate.

"Only certificates issued by CABs accredited against the trust framework by the UK Accreditation Service are valid for the purposes of joining the Digital Verification Services register established under Section 32 of the Data (Use and Access) Act."

Who owns it

DSIT owns the certification scheme as a whole; OfDIA, an office inside DSIT, manages the trust framework and the scheme on a day-to-day basis.

Who assesses it

Certificates are issued by conformity assessment bodies (CABs) that the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) has accredited against the trust framework — only certificates from a UKAS-accredited CAB count for entry to the Digital Verification Services register.

Who asks for it

Voluntary. Certification against the framework is not a market-wide requirement. It becomes a practical precondition only for joining the statutory Digital Verification Services register: "Only certificates issued by CABs accredited against the trust framework by the UK Accreditation Service are valid for the purposes of joining the Digital Verification Services register established under Section 32 of the Data (Use and Access) Act."