Digital proof of age for alcohol sales: how the draft licensing order will work in practice

The Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) (Amendment) Order 2026, once it is approved by Parliament and has come into force, will allow retailers and hospitality venues in England and Wales to accept digital proofs of age when selling or supplying alcohol, provided the statutory conditions are met and subject to any local licensing conditions.

In a blog post by Paul Donati and Aurora Olsen, published on 17 August 2026 on the Enabling digital identity blog, the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) set out answers to questions raised by digital verification service (DVS) providers and licence holders about how digital proofs of age will work in practice. The post follows an earlier explanation of the draft order published on 30 June 2026.

Only registered DVS may be used to check age. Licence holders must use a DVS that appears on the government’s DVS register at the point of sale in order to accept a digital proof of age, as required by the draft order. A DVS that does not appear on the register does not meet the requirements of the order.

Every service on the register is independently audited and certified against the UK digital verification services trust framework, the minimum quality standards for digital verification set by the government for providers that choose to be certified. This is intended to let licence holders trust a registered DVS in the same way they trust a passport or driving licence, without needing to assess the underlying technology themselves.

Being on the register does not mean compliance is automatic. Appearing on the DVS register confirms that a service meets the requirements of the trust framework, not that using it means a business is complying with the Mandatory Licensing Conditions. Licence holders must still satisfy themselves that a DVS meets their business needs and legal responsibilities, and are expected to use contractual mechanisms and other controls to ensure this remains the case on an ongoing basis.

Other age assurance technologies must not be used. Some DVS providers offer other technologies, such as age estimation, but these cannot be certified against the UK digital verification services trust framework and cannot appear on the DVS register. They are outside the scope of the legislative changes, and licence holders are not permitted to use them to check age for alcohol sales, even for testing purposes.

Licence holders do not have to accept digital proofs of age. Businesses will not be required to adopt digital verification when the legislation comes into force, and may continue to rely on existing physical documents if they wish. Customers will also be able to continue relying on physical proofs of age, such as passports and driving licences, if they prefer. Digital proof of age is an additional option for verifying age, not a replacement for existing routes or responsibilities under the Licensing Act 2003.

Licence holders will decide whether and how they implement it. Government sets the legal framework but does not prescribe how licence holders build proof of age checks into their own operational processes. Existing duties under the Licensing Act 2003 are unaffected: businesses must still prevent sales to people under 18, prevent proxy purchases, and refuse sale to customers who are intoxicated.

Visual inspection of a digital proof of age is not permitted. Because convincing digital replicas of identity documents, websites and apps can now be created, it is not possible to tell whether a document or service is genuine by looking at it. Licence holders must instead use a registered DVS to carry out what the post calls a “programmatic check.”

Anyone may use a digital proof of age. DVS may be used by adults of any age to purchase alcohol, and their use is not limited to people who appear to be under 18 or who have been asked for ID under a Challenge 25 policy. Challenge 25 continues to guide when a business asks for proof of age; digital proof of age is simply an additional way for a customer to provide it.

Digital verification can be used at self-service checkouts. If a premises chooses to accept digital proofs of age at self-service checkouts, licence holders must continue to meet their wider legal responsibilities, including preventing proxy purchases and refusing sale to intoxicated customers, so self-service checkouts must not be completely unsupervised.

Data minimisation applies throughout. DVS providers and licence holders must comply with data protection legislation, including the data minimisation principle, and should only process the personal data necessary to confirm that a customer is old enough to buy alcohol and is the rightful holder of the proof of age presented.

Further guidance is expected. The Home Office intends to update the statutory guidance that accompanies the Licensing Act 2003 once the legislation comes into force, and OfDIA intends to work with stakeholders to develop practical implementation guidance and illustrative examples of how retailers could use digital proof of age.