The GOV.UK Wallet is a government project for storing and presenting digital government documents through the GOV.UK One Login app. The digital HM Armed Forces Veteran Card is available to eligible users. The digital driving licence has been tested privately, but it is not a general public release. The wider wallet is still being built and tested. [1][2]
That distinction matters. A live credential, a private trial and a planned rollout are three different things. The Government’s technical documents also describe how credentials can be checked, but a valid digital signature does not by itself prove that every claim is true, current or suitable for a particular decision.
What is available now?
The official GOV.UK Wallet page says the service is not ready for general use yet. It says people can save a digital Veteran Card to the GOV.UK One Login app, while more documents, including a driving licence, are planned for the future. Use is optional, and the digital card sits alongside the physical HM Armed Forces Veteran Card. [1]
GDS gave a more detailed progress update in January 2026:
- The digital Veteran Card was the first credential issued, and more than 15,000 veterans had added it to the One Login app since October 2025.
- GDS and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) started a private driving-licence trial with a small group of colleagues in December 2025.
- Wider driving-licence availability was described as a later-2026 aim, after further testing and work on checking services.
The technical documentation currently lists the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card as available and the mobile driving licence as coming soon. That is the safest way to read the position: the Veteran Card is a live, limited credential; the driving licence is in testing and planned for wider release; the full wallet programme is not a finished replacement for physical documents. [2][3]
The Government’s roadmap says its goal is to make all government credentials available digitally by the end of 2027. That is a programme goal, not evidence that every document will be available on that date or that physical documents will stop being accepted. [4]
How does a verifiable credential work?
A verifiable credential is a digital document whose issuer can sign its contents. A holder stores it and presents some or all of the information to a verifier. In the GOV.UK Wallet model, those roles are separate:
| Role | In GOV.UK Wallet | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | A government department | Creates a credential and is responsible for the attributes it puts in it |
| Holder | The person using the wallet | Stores and presents the credential |
| Verifier | A government service or approved checking service | Checks the credential and decides whether it meets its policy |
The wallet documentation says credentials are linked to a GOV.UK One Login account and a personal device. It also describes a device-bound flow: the issuing service checks that the One Login subject matches the wallet holder, then binds the credential to a wallet key. That helps show that the credential is being presented from the expected wallet. It does not turn a technical key into an automatic, universal proof of a person’s identity in every setting. [2][5]
The technical stack differs by credential. The documentation says the driving licence uses an mdoc-based credential following ISO/IEC 18013-5. The Veteran Card uses a JWT verifiable credential following the W3C Verifiable Credential Data Model 2.0. For online sharing, the wallet documentation refers to OpenID for Verifiable Presentation; for in-person mdoc checks, it refers to ISO/IEC 18013-5 proximity flows. [5]
These are standards and verification methods, not a promise that a verifier must accept every presentation. The verifier still needs a policy for the service it is providing.
Four checks behind a digital credential
A verifier should ask more than “does the signature work?” The GOV.UK Wallet approach can be understood through four checks.
1. Is the credential intact and signed by the stated issuer?
Cryptographic signatures can show whether data has been altered after signing and whether it matches the issuer’s signing material. That is an integrity and authorship check. It does not prove that the issuer made the right decision when the credential was created.
2. Is the issuer trusted for this attribute?
A driving licence issued by the DVLA and a date-of-birth attribute issued by another organisation are different claims with different sources. The verifier needs to know who issued the credential and whether that issuer is accepted for the decision at hand.
For non-government sharing, GOV.UK Wallet documentation points to certified Digital Verification Service providers. A provider must be certified against the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework and appear on the public register of digital identity and attribute services. [2][6]
The register is a way to check certification status. It is not a recommendation, a guarantee of a particular service outcome or a general privacy certificate.
3. Is the credential connected to the right holder?
The wallet links the credential to the user’s One Login account and device. The issuance documentation describes proof of possession of the wallet’s private key and a comparison between the One Login subject identifier and the wallet subject identifier. Those checks address control of the wallet and the relationship between the authenticated account and the wallet instance. [5]
They do not answer every question about the person standing in front of a verifier. A verifier still has to follow its own identity, eligibility or age-checking rules.
4. Is the information still current?
A signature can remain mathematically valid after an entitlement has changed. A driving licence can expire or be replaced. An attribute can be withdrawn. A verifier therefore needs to check expiry and status where the credential system provides those signals, and it needs a policy for what to do when information is missing or stale.
This is why “verifiable” does not mean “automatically true”. It describes a way to check origin, integrity, holder binding and status. The verifier remains responsible for deciding what evidence is sufficient.
Is GOV.UK Wallet a blockchain or cryptocurrency wallet?
No. GOV.UK Wallet is a government digital-identity wallet. It stores government-issued credentials and supports ways to issue and verify them. The Government’s wallet documents do not describe it as a blockchain wallet, and the wallet is not a cryptoasset account.
The crypto connection is technical rather than institutional. Both areas use words such as wallet, key, issuer, signature and verifier. Both can use public-key cryptography to show control of a private key and to check signed data. That shared vocabulary does not make the systems interchangeable.
| Question | GOV.UK Wallet | Crypto wallet |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Store and present government credentials | Manage keys used to authorise actions on a blockchain network |
| Typical evidence | A signed credential and its issuer, holder and status checks | A transaction, address activity or cryptographic signature on a named network |
| Who supplies the underlying claim? | A government department or an approved issuer | The protocol records an event; off-chain services may add other records |
| Is a blockchain required? | No | It depends on the cryptoasset system, but a blockchain or similar ledger is normally central |
| Does it prove a human’s identity? | Only within the relevant identity and verification process | A key or address alone does not prove who controls it or who a person is |
A crypto wallet generally manages credentials that can authorise a blockchain transaction. It does not automatically hold coins as physical objects, and a wallet address is not the same thing as a government identity. The GOV.UK Wallet, by contrast, is designed around credentials about a person or entitlement. Neither label should be treated as a guarantee of privacy or truth.
For background, see our guides to what a crypto wallet, private key and address are, what a hash does in a blockchain, and what “verifiable” means in a digital credential or blockchain record.
What does this mean for everyday use?
The practical change is that a person may be able to present a particular government document from a phone instead of showing the physical version. The document’s usefulness still depends on the credential being available, the verifier having a supported checking route and the relevant organisation accepting that form of evidence.
For organisations outside government, the documented route is through certified DVS providers on the register. That creates a trust and compliance layer around the checking service. It does not mean every shop, employer, landlord or website can read every credential in a person’s wallet.
The wallet documentation also says the holder presents credentials at their request. That is a description of the technical flow, not a blanket promise about data minimisation, anonymity or privacy in every use. Users should check what information a service is requesting and why, just as they would with a physical document or an online identity check.
What should readers watch next?
Three updates will tell us how the project is moving:
- The status of the mobile driving licence after the private trial.
- The arrival of broader programmatic verification, rather than relying only on a person showing a card on screen.
- New government credentials and the organisations that can verify them through the DVS register.
Until those updates arrive, the clearest summary is narrow: the digital Veteran Card is available through GOV.UK One Login for eligible users; the digital driving licence has been through a private trial; and the wider GOV.UK Wallet remains a staged government rollout. It is a verifiable-credential system, not a cryptocurrency wallet.
Sources
- GOV.UK Wallet — current public guidance on availability, optional use and the digital Veteran Card.
- Making the government’s first digital wallet a reality, Government Digital Service, 21 January 2026 — Veteran Card adoption, private driving-licence trial and planned wider rollout.
- Credentials in GOV.UK Wallet — available and planned credentials in the technical documentation.
- Enabling access to government documents on the go with GOV.UK Wallet — government roadmap and end-2027 programme goal.
- Issuing credentials to GOV.UK Wallet and Consuming and verifying credentials in GOV.UK Wallet — credential formats, issuer/holder/verifier roles, device binding and verification flows.
- UK digital verification services trust framework (1.0) and Find registered digital identity and attribute services — certification framework and public register.
- Enabling the use of digital identities in the UK — government explanation of digital identities, certification and the register.