Licensed premises in England and Wales can accept digital proof of age for alcohol sales from today, under an amendment to the mandatory conditions of the Licensing Act 2003. Adoption is voluntary, physical ID stays valid, and only providers certified on the government register may be used.
The change arrives through the Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) (Amendment) Order 2026, in force on 15 September 2026. A customer shows a QR code or taps a phone against a reader, and the check confirms they are over 18 without disclosing a name or address. Three services are certified at launch: Yoti ID, Post Office EasyID and Luciditi ID. The rules follow a 2024 government consultation in which 72% of respondents supported digital identities for age verification when buying alcohol.
What a licence holder still has to check
Only services registered with the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes may be used for an alcohol age check. Certification against the digital verification services trust framework is what puts a provider on that register, and it involves independent audit. Being on the register does not by itself discharge the licence holder, who remains responsible for checking that the service it uses meets the mandatory conditions.
Age estimation technology is not permitted for this purpose, including for testing. Nothing obliges a business to adopt any of it, and a customer presenting a passport or driving licence is still making a valid check. The mandatory conditions attach to the premises licence itself, so within a franchised network the duty follows whoever holds the licence for each site, which is normally the operating company trading there.
Good to know
The Licensing Act 2003 covers England and Wales, and the change goes no further. Licensing in Scotland and in Northern Ireland sits under separate regimes, so a network trading across the UK is working to more than one rulebook on age checks.
The question for multi-site operators
For a network trading from dozens of sites, the decision is less about the law than about the till. Three certified providers exist today and more can join the register, which raises the prospect of staff being asked to recognise several different apps at the point of sale. The cost falls on operators across the restaurant and hospitality categories, where alcohol sales sit alongside food.
The convenience sector has already put that point on the record. Ed Woodall, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said in June 2026 that it is “essential that retailers do not have to use multiple systems depending on the ID provider and that there is one consistent approach for accepting digital ID at the point of sale”.
What happens next
Because uptake is optional, the measure of this one is how many operators switch it on, and how quickly EPoS suppliers build the readers into systems already in use. Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality, said the voluntary rollout “will provide an easier experience for customers”.
Stephanie Peacock, digital government minister, noted that licensed businesses “carry out millions of age checks every year”. Neither the government nor the trade bodies have published a target for adoption, and no figure exists yet for how many premises are ready to accept a digital check.
