The UK digital driving licence is a version of your driving licence held on your phone rather than on a plastic photocard. It sits inside the GOV.UK Wallet in the GOV.UK One Login app, and it is being delivered by the government in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. This guide explains what the digital driving licence is, the current timeline, how a person will use it, and what it will mean for age and identity checks as it rolls out through 2026.
For the person holding it, the change is simple. Instead of digging out a photocard to prove who you are or that you can drive, you open an app, and with your consent the relevant details are shown or checked. The credential lives on the device you already carry, and you decide when to present it.
The digital driving licence is an official, government-issued version of a Great Britain driving licence, held as a credential in the GOV.UK Wallet. It carries the same authority as the photocard and can be used to prove both a person’s identity and their driving entitlements. It is issued by the government with the DVLA and carries official status.
Think of it as the photocard’s information, held securely on a phone and released only when the holder chooses. It is a verified credential, tied to the person and signed by the issuer, which is what lets a checker trust it. A screenshot or a scan saved in a camera roll carries none of that assurance.
The digital driving licence lives inside the GOV.UK Wallet, which is part of the GOV.UK One Login app. One Login is the government’s system for proving who you are when you use government services online. The wallet is the part that holds government-issued credentials on your device, and the digital driving licence is one of the credentials being added to it.
The first credential to go live in the GOV.UK Wallet was the digital Veteran Card, launched in October 2025, with more than 15,000 veterans having added it by January 2026. The digital driving licence follows the same model. The result is a single secure wallet holding a growing set of official documents a person can carry and present from a phone.
A private trial of the digital driving licence began in December 2025 with a small group of government and DVLA staff. Wider public rollout across England, Wales and Scotland is planned for later in 2026. During 2026 the government is also enabling providers to test how digital driving licence data is shared and verified with third parties, ahead of that wider rollout. It is not yet available to the public.
The table below sets out where each part of the programme stands.
|
Milestone |
Status |
|
Digital driving licence held in the GOV.UK Wallet |
Confirmed as the delivery model, in partnership with the DVLA |
|
Private trial with government and DVLA staff |
Running since December 2025 |
|
Wider public rollout across England, Wales and Scotland |
Planned for later in 2026, not yet public |
|
Third-party verification of licence data enabled |
Being tested and enabled during 2026, ahead of wider rollout |
|
Physical photocard licence |
Not being withdrawn; the digital version is an optional addition |
Dates for a programme like this can move. The wording here follows the government’s own statements, and anyone planning around the digital driving licence should treat “later in 2026” as a planning horizon rather than a fixed release date.
A person will store their driving licence in the GOV.UK Wallet on their phone and use it to prove who they are and what they are entitled to drive. When a check is needed, they open the app and, with their consent, present the relevant details. In many settings that will replace handing over a plastic card or reciting a licence number.
The experience is meant to be quick and controlled. You open the wallet, confirm the request, and the specific information asked for is shown or shared. There is no photo to email and no number to read out over the phone. That control matters. A digital credential can be built to reveal only what a given check requires, rather than exposing the whole document every time.
There are settings where a physical licence will still make sense, and the plan reflects that. The digital version is being added as an option, so a person can choose the format that suits the moment rather than being forced onto a phone for every interaction.
No. The physical licence is not being withdrawn. The digital driving licence is an optional addition, held alongside the photocard, which stays valid. A person will be able to keep using their plastic licence exactly as they do now, and take up the digital version if and when it suits them.
This flexibility helps anyone who cannot or does not want to rely on a phone, and covers situations where a device is not to hand. Offering both formats keeps the licence usable for everyone while giving people who want a faster, phone-based option the choice to use it.
Once third-party verification opens, the digital driving licence will let a person prove their age or identity to a business by presenting a credential from their phone. Because a driving licence carries a verified date of birth, it can support age checks as well as identity checks. Verification runs through certified providers, with the holder’s consent, rather than a business reading the card by eye.
Third parties are not expected to connect directly to the DVLA to check a licence. Instead, the government is enabling the digital verification industry to test how it shares and verifies digital driving licence data, so a business would confirm a credential through a certified provider rather than through a direct DVLA feed.
Proving your age to buy an age-restricted product, or your identity when opening an account, could become a short confirmation from the wallet you already carry, in place of a photocard handed across a counter or a document uploaded and re-uploaded. The check confirms what is needed and no more.
The digital driving licence is one example of a broader shift towards reusable, consent-based credentials held on a person’s device. A person proves their identity once, holds the verified credentials, and presents them, with consent, wherever they are accepted. The GOV.UK Wallet is the government’s route to this. Certified private providers offer a parallel route.
This is the same pattern appearing across the identity system. A credential is issued by a trusted source, held by the person, and checked by whoever needs it, without that checker having to store or re-collect the underlying documents. The digital driving licence is a visible, mainstream instance of the model, which is why its rollout matters beyond drivers alone. It makes phone-held proof something businesses will be expected to accept.
For businesses that verify customers, the practical question is readiness. As digital driving licences and other wallet-held credentials become something people expect to use, being able to accept and check them, through a certified provider, becomes part of a competitive onboarding experience, and increasingly an expected one.
One provider positioned for that shift is OneID, a certified UK digital verification service. As a certified Holder and Wallet provider under the UK’s Digital Verification Services Trust Framework, OneID is positioned to verify these credentials as third-party verification is enabled during 2026. There is no live integration with the digital driving licence today; the point is that the certified route a business would use already exists.
What is the digital driving licence in the UK? It is an official government-issued version of a Great Britain driving licence, held as a secure credential in the GOV.UK Wallet inside the GOV.UK One Login app. Delivered with the DVLA, it can be used to prove a person’s identity and their driving entitlements from their phone.
When will the digital driving licence be available? A private trial began in December 2025 with government and DVLA staff. Wider public rollout across England, Wales and Scotland is planned for later in 2026, and it is not yet available to the public. During 2026 the government is also enabling third parties to test how they verify licence data.
Is there a digital driving licence app? The digital driving licence is not a separate app. It lives in the GOV.UK Wallet, which is part of the GOV.UK One Login app. A person adds the licence as a credential in that wallet and presents it from there, alongside other government-issued documents such as the digital Veteran Card.
Will the physical driving licence be scrapped? No. The physical licence is not being withdrawn. The digital driving licence is an optional addition, held alongside the photocard. People can keep using their plastic licence as they do now and take up the digital version only if it suits them.
Can the digital driving licence be used for age verification? It is designed to support this once third-party verification opens. Because a driving licence carries a verified date of birth, a person can present it from the wallet, with consent, to prove they are over an age threshold. The check is confirmed through a certified provider rather than by reading the card by eye.
How will businesses verify a digital driving licence? Businesses are not expected to connect directly to the DVLA. The government is enabling the digital verification industry to test how licence data is shared and verified, so a business would confirm a credential through a certified provider, with the holder’s consent, ahead of wider rollout later in 2026.
Is the digital driving licence the same as the government digital ID scheme? No. The digital driving licence is a specific credential in the GOV.UK Wallet. The national digital ID scheme announced in September 2025 is a separate initiative built on GOV.UK One Login. They share the same underlying login system but are not the same thing.