Alcohol buyers will be able to use a digital ID app on their phones to prove their age under new rules introduced on Tuesday.
Pubs and shops in England and Wales can use the technology in addition to current physical forms of ID, with the government saying a digital option will make age checks quicker and more secure for customers and staff alike.
Customers will be able to choose ID apps from a range of suppliers, such as the Post Office, Yoti or Luciditi, provided they appear on a government-approved list. The scheme is deliberately technology-agnostic: the government is not setting out in detail how each app must work.
The government argues that under the voluntary scheme drinkers would share fewer personal details with a venue or shop, tapping a phone on a reader or displaying a scannable QR code rather than handing over an official document. The change means businesses will no longer be required to let people use physical ID, though the government contends most establishments would.
The apps must also guard against customers borrowing devices from older friends and relatives, and ensure the ID app belongs to the person using it. Yoti's app, for example, will only let a user log in if a scan of their face matches that of the person who signed up. The app then generates a QR code, which the business scans with a free checker app that reports the person's age. The code is time-limited, to make duping or sharing it more difficult.
Digital government minister Stephanie Peacock said having the option of digital ID would "mean you do not need to carry a physical ID, nor hand over sensitive personal information", so that people could "feel safer on a night out".
Allen Simpson, chief executive of the trade body UKHospitality, called the new rules a "positive step", adding that the industry would work with government to ensure the roll-out was not "burdensome", including by keeping multiple supplier options available and the costs manageable.
The government wants the apps to work together, so customers do not need different apps in different venues, and wants the services to function offline, without mobile data or a Wi-Fi connection. In future the scheme could be extended to cover tobacco and vapes.
Digital rights campaigners have warned about exclusion. Jasleen Chaggar of Big Brother Watch said that while having multiple ways to prove identity was helpful, the government should ensure digital ID did not become effectively mandatory "as it would shut out millions of people". She said: "Many people have legitimate reasons for relying on physical ID, whether out of choice, privacy and security concerns, or because they lack the digital skills or means to use digital ID."
The new rules follow a wider digital ID programme promoted by former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, which proved controversial and was later abandoned by Andy Burnham.
Traced end to end, though, the new arrangement has an elegance that has gone largely unremarked. To buy a pint, the customer presents their face to their phone. The phone, satisfied, issues a code. A second phone reads the code and tells a member of staff a number. The member of staff, who is standing directly in front of the face, is then informed about it.
The Questionable Times' analysts note that the face has not been removed from the process. It has been promoted. Where a single face was formerly examined once, by a barman, it is now examined twice: first by a device that must establish it is the correct face, and then, indirectly and by summary, by a person who can see it.
The Department of Unnecessary Research welcomes the reform without reservation. It has succeeded in making age verification faster, more private and more secure, and it has achieved this by ensuring that the only participant at the bar no longer required to look at anybody is the barman.