Turf war between GDS and HMRC over Gov.UK Verify just 'creative tension', says local government CDIO Ed Garcez

But Garcez admits that the Verify platform needs time to mature

Ed Garcez, the chief information and digital officer (CDIO) of Camden, Haringey and Islington councils, has dubbed the ‘turf war' between HMRC and the Government Digital Service (GDS) around online identity assurance as merely a matter of ‘creative tension'.

Several weeks ago, HMRC programme director Mike Howes-Roberts published a blog post which initially stated that HMRC would not use GDS's Gov.uk Verify system, and instead develop their own solution in house.

But the department swiftly edited the blog post to then suggest it would continue to use Verify as the single identification service for individuals - and that the authentication service that HMRC is developing to replace the 16-year-old Government Gateway would complement the existing Verify service for business representatives.

The assumption that most onlookers made was that the Cabinet Office politely asked HMRC to amend the wording of the blog to diffuse speculation about an ongoing turf war.

It is known that the Cabinet Office is aiming to get 25 million Verify users signed-up the service by the end of 2020. However, considering it only has 1.1 million registered users at the moment it would benefit from the help of HMRC's Government Gateway user base, which claims 50 million active users.

But Garcez suggested that what may seem like a petty disagreement between two departments is perhaps what is needed to get to the right solution.

"It's sometimes the case where you have technical professionals who work hard on a solution and put their all into it, they inevitably feel it's a great thing they've created. When there are two conflicting great things, it's people's natural tendency to try and sell the one that they've created. I don't think that's a constructive process, but it's a human process," he said.

What Garcez would like to see is a comparison of both solutions - what HMRC are working on, and the current Verify product - and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of both of them, with both GDS and HMRC able to learn from each other's solutions.

"I think if we can bring the learning of Verify and Government Gateway, as well as the other identity initiatives across government, together then there would be a clearer picture of what the best way forward is," he said.

"I would describe the current situation as ‘creative tension', because there is a degree of tension but I think if the tension is channelled in the right way it can be creative and can lead to a better result overall," he added.

Camden Council is one of the 19 local councils trialling Verify, and Garcez and his team have been thinking about how Verify could be developed to better suit local government needs.

HMRC and Verify currently require different levels of identity assurance - HMRC needs a lower level than Verify does, and Garcez suggested that there could be three different tiers of assurance for local authorities.

This would include ‘gold tier' transactions that are less common, but which need a higher degree of accuracy in knowing who the citizen is, such as those in which the council is giving money or benefits to citizens; ‘silver tier' transactions, which are more common and need a moderate degree of accuracy, for example, if the council needs to issue a citizen with a parking permit they would need proof that they are a resident; and, finally, ‘bronze tier' transactions, which will be the most frequent transactions.

For these, it isn't essential to know who the citizen is, but would be a good opportunity to set people up on the system so that the council can provide them with other services.

"I don't think [the three tier system] is where Verify is yet, so there is a need for the space to evolve and mature, but I think that the right conversations [between HMRC and GDS] are happening so I'm encouraged," he added.

Two weeks ago, GDS said it had moved its first two local-government pilot schemes - concessionary travel passes and residential parking permits - for the Verify programme into alpha testing. When it finally launched, the scheme was widely criticised over a number of claimed security and other flaws.