UK digital ID inclusivity can benefit from biometric bias testing consistency

More than a quarter of digital identity service providers certified under the UK’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) were not even aware of the accessibility standard that they are expected to adhere to. Biometrics providers also do not assess bias the same way, which led to the addition of more specific testing requirements in the latest version of the trust framework (0.4).

This is a finding of the UK’s Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) in its second annual inclusion monitoring report. The report was originally published in November, and OfDIA’s advice drawn from it is shared in a blog post published Thursday.

OfDIA recommends that the government strengthen the accessibility rules in the DIATF, and that services make it easier to accommodate vouching.

More than half of services, 54 percent, reported meeting or surpassing W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (AA). But 27 percent said they were unaware of the requirement.

Service providers variously assess their biometrics for bias with operational testing, scenario testing and technology testing, in roughly equal measure, and 5 percent say they do not perform any bias testing at all. Several respondents admitted they did not know if any testing was done on their biometrics for demographic differentials. Face biometrics are the modality used by 92 percent of vendor respondents.

Internal testing based on an established standard was the most popular methodology, followed by external independent testing by an accredited test laboratory. Despite this only 30 percent have data on the accuracy rates of their technology with different demographic groups.

OfDIA also shared plans for improving the inclusion survey in 2025. They include new questions on whether reusable digital identities are offered, whether the service is cloud- or device-based, the average number of customers and checks conducted each month and how data on drop-outs or unsuccessful checks is collected.

The deadline for completing the 2025 survey is March 3.

Article Topics

accessibility  |  biometric bias  |  biometric testing  |  biometrics  |  DIATF certification  |  digital identity  |  digital inclusion  |  OfDIA  |  trust framework  |  UK