New for 2026: Serve Legal Digital ID Report
Digital ID was expected to be authorised for alcohol sales by Christmas. That didn’t happen, and the gap between expectation and delivery is creating real-world confusion: customers aren’t sure what will be accepted, and retailers and venue teams don’t have consistent guidance on what “good” looks like at the point of sale.
Serve Legal operates at the intersection between business and government regulation. We’re the UK’s leading provider of ID, compliance and safety perception testing, dedicated to strengthening public safety through better policy compliance across hospitality, retail venues and town centres. We are uniquely placed to sandbox test, audit and evidence what happens when Digital ID meets real-world trading conditions for major retailers and high street venues.
In November 2025, Serve Legal surveyed two groups at the frontline of age-restricted sales and compliance: young consumers (through our nationwide auditor community, many aged 16–24) and retailers across supermarkets, convenience, betting, hospitality and online marketplaces.
In the white paper, you’ll find the evidence on current usage and adoption, what young people say about trust and privacy (including why data minimisation and “proof-only” age confirmation matters), and the practical requirements retailers are setting around interoperability, downtime risk and offline resilience. You’ll also find our clear conditions for Digital ID to succeed in age-restricted sales, including what must be clarified around recovery processes, liability and enforcement recognition, and how digital inclusion can be protected with appropriate fallbacks.
If you’re responsible for compliance, policy, Digital ID implementation or customer experience, this is the grounded, frontline view you need.
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