Post Office Ltd wins place in UK’s online benefits project

Post Office Ltd has won another government services contract, this time to help set up a secure online identity registration service for the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions. The company overseeing the UK’s network of more than 11,500 post offices was one of seven successful companies, from 44 bidders, winning inclusion within the Department’s Identity Assurance (IDA) services framework agreement.

It means Post Office will still have to apply for work as part of the project, but it is one of only two companies that have been selected to deliver all three elements of the proposal.

The Department said the 18-month project would involve setting up a system to verify the identity of about 21m people automatically as they make benefit claims online.

A new “Universal Credit” system is expected to go live nationally in October 2013, to replace the current “complicated” paper-based UK benefits payment system.

Lord Freud, the minister for welfare reform, said: “We are working with cyber security experts to ensure we are clear about the threats to the online process, and we are confident that the providers announced today will offer an effective, safe and free-to-use identity service for future online benefit claims.”

Other companies chosen alongside Post Office Ltd include Cassidian, Digidentity, Experian, Ingeus, Mydex and Verizon.

The Department said that over time, the identity assurance system will become available to all UK citizens accessing public services online.

The value of the framework contracts is expected to be about GBP 25m, excluding VAT.

Gateway

Post Office Ltd said if successful in applying for contracts through the framework deal, it could be providing online, telephone-based and face-to-face channels of service delivery.

The project could see citizens having their identity verified in post offices so they can then access state benefits securely online.

It said the 18-month agreement will also provide a “gateway” for other government departments to access its identity assurance services without having to run a full procurement exercise.

Martin Moran, the Post Office Ltd commercial director, said the framework agreement further demonstrated the confidence the government had in the Post Office network as a “front office of government”, following last week’s huge DVLA contract win.

“As an established and trusted expert in ID verification, we believe that the agreement presents significant potential for business growth within government services and in assisting government with cutting costs and being more efficient,” he said.