Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Royal Mail has ceased to be an identity provider for GOV.UK Verify; and why Royal Mail is listed on the GOV.UK Verify website.

In the Written Ministerial Statement of 9 October 2018 on the GOV.UK Verify programme, it was confirmed that contracts had been signed with a number of private sector identity providers.

Royal Mail had previously been one of the GOV.UK Verify private sector identity providers. However, Royal Mail did not sign the new contract. Users are therefore unable to create a new GOV.UK Verify account with Royal Mail.

Royal Mail remain listed as a previous identity provider while users who hold an existing account with Royal Mail remain able to sign into GOV.UK Verify with this account. If a user does not have a GOV.UK Verify account, they are not offered Royal Mail as an identity provider to verify their identity.