The Government Digital Service (GDS) is inviting registered digital verification service (DVS) providers to join the GOV.UK Wallet sandbox. This will be the first time that private sector organisations can test their verifier technology in a closed test environment (the sandbox) with a test digital driving licence.
This is a significant moment in the development of the digital driving licence. It allows us to start testing how services offered by DVS providers will interact with government issued credentials in the GOV.UK Wallet, helping us to learn, improve and build confidence before we start to introduce the digital driving licence from next year.
DVS providers who are independently certified against government standards and are on the government’s DVS register can join the sandbox. The technology they provide will enable information from the digital driving licence to be shared securely with other organisations who will accept the digital driving licence, such as pubs, cinemas and supermarkets.
Our approach helps people use digital credentials with confidence, knowing they are sharing information through trusted providers. This will also help to support the wider use of trusted digital credentials in the future.
Responsible, safe and secure technologyAs you would expect for a product that will in time be available to millions of people across the UK, we are building the digital driving licence in a responsible, safe and secure way.
Following on from our testing at the end of last year, GDS and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have continued to design, build and test the product. This has included:
developing the technical capabilities needed to refresh, revoke and verify a digital driving licence strengthening the safeguards that will help organisations check that a licence is genuine, valid and up to dateWe have also been building on the work of the first credential for the GOV.UK Wallet, the digital Veteran Card. Like the Veteran Card, the digital driving licence is designed to be an alternative to the physical card, not a replacement for it.
The sandbox goes liveThe sandbox gives registered DVS providers access to a collection of tools, including test credentials and test data, allowing them to experiment and build integrations in a safe environment that is separate from live user data and designed specifically for testing and learning.
Specifically, the sandbox allows DVS providers to:
test credential verification journeys develop integrations with government services understand how digital driving licence checks may operate explore with different user journeys identify technical and operational issues provide feedback to government on implementationThis collaboration in the test environment enables learning on both sides. DVS providers gain an opportunity to prepare their own services, while government gains valuable insight into how the ecosystem will work in real life.
Working with industry to prepare for rolloutMany organisations will play a role in helping people use and verify digital credentials in the future. DVS providers are a key part of that.
Working closely with DVS providers helps us understand how digital credentials will operate in practice, are shared securely, and identify issues early. That’s why we're creating opportunities for industry partners to test, learn and share feedback as the programme develops.
What’s nextBuilding and inviting the DVS providers into the sandbox is one step in a wider programme of testing and collaboration.
Later this year, GDS will host a testing event with stakeholders to help us further test technical integration and collect feedback ahead of launch. More information on this will follow.
This work aims to build confidence across the whole system:
users need to feel that the service is secure and easy to use businesses that will accept the digital driving licence in order to check identity or eligibility need to know that checks can be done reliably DVS providers should trust that integrations work as expected government needs assurance that the service performs well at scale. Transforming the driver experienceThe Roadmap for modern digital government sets out to make life easier for people, drive growth and deliver on smarter, more efficient public services. The digital driving licence is part of this transformation, and is being achieved alongside other important product updates for drivers. This includes the GOV.UK App adding the Driver and vehicles account feature as a native feature, which is now in testing with wider release planned in a few months.
Together, these products will make it easier for people to interact with government in ways that are convenient for them, delivering on the Roadmap’s ambitions.
If you’re a registered DVS provider, register for access to the GOV.UK Wallet sandbox
https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/10/19/opening-gov-uk-wallet-sandbox-to-digital-verification-services/
seen at 14:56, 19 October in Government Digital Service.