UK government launches a fast online identity verification service

A new service has launched in the UK, which will allow the country’s citizens to easily verify their identity online. Called CitizenSafe, it is the brainchild of global specialists in identity data intelligence, GBG.

CitizenSafe was created after a survey had shown that people expect to access government services easily and securely online, and that online identity verification was a key step. It will be integrated within the UK government's gov.uk Verify service, and GBG says it will cut the time needed to verify an identity to mere minutes.

Suzy Thomas, head of CitizenSafe’s Customer Experience, commented: "Technology is changing everything around us and everything we do. Our ambition for CitizenSafe is to transform government services. Gone are the days of queuing with your passport and ID in order to prove who you are. You can now simply do everything online, whenever is most convenient".

"But as the ease and speed of accessing services is prioritized, CitizenSafe is working to ensure that security and online safety are not compromised. Through gov.uk Verify, the UK government is helping to fight the growing problem of online identity theft; it’s the first of its kind in the world, stopping criminals pretending to be you", added Thomas.

The survey mentioned earlier revealed that 81 percent of British citizens expect to access key government services as easily as they access banking services. Those include filing tax returns, managing pensions, and claiming redundancy pay. It also found that 80 percent of respondents already used online banking outside usual office hours.

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