Blurred image of the back of a UK driving licence photocard

Great British Driving Licences can now be used for ID verification

4 July, 2022

We are pleased to share news from HMRC that Great British (GB) driving liences have now been added to the list of acceptable forms of evidence when taxpayers set up Government Gateway accounts.  

Previously, only driving licences issued by Northern Irish authorities were acceptable as evidence when taxpayers sought to verify their ID on GOV.UK, which was of little help to most English, Welsh and Scottish taxpayers. 

HMRC shared the following update with us on 1 July 2022:

"We’re pleased to confirm that on 30 June we added Great Britain (GB) driving licences as an extra evidence source, helping more of our customers get online to use our digital services.

"We need two forms of evidence to confirm a customer’s identity online and customers are now able to select two items from the following where they are available: 

  • tax credit claim details 
  • P60 or most recent payslips 
  • UK passport details 
  • information held on your credit file (such as loans, credit cards or mortgages) 
  • your Self Assessment tax return (in the last 3 years) 
  • GB driving licence (DVLA-issued) or NI driving licence (DVA-issued) ." 

We have over the years received a lot of feedback from members about the lack of acceptablity of GB licences, so we hope this is a positive step forward. If you have any further comments about the addtion of GB driving licences to the list of acceptable evidence on GOV.UK please let us know at [email protected]