Customer Experience

UK government to test biometric age verification

Image courtesy of Innovative Technology Ltd.

January 31, 2022

Innovative Technology Ltd., a provider of biometric solutions to estimate age, will participate in a U.K. government program piloting age verification technology for the retail sale of alcohol, according to a press release.

The Home Office invited organizations to propose digital methods of checking customers' ages while purchasing alcohol. The regulatory "Sandbox" trial will run between January and May 2022, using the technology to help retailers check customers' ages to prevent alcohol being sold to anyone underage.

"ICU age verification technology will now be piloted in several convenience stores in the northwest of England, and we will closely monitor our test sites to ensure we support the retailers' and collate the relevant data throughout the trial," Andrew O'Brien, ICU product manager, said in the press release.

ICU performs anonymous age estimation completely offline, so no images or data are stored, maintaining privacy, O'Brien said. The accuracy of the solution has been independently tested by the Age Check Certification Service which found that it underestimates age by only 0.19 years, which establishes ICU as the most accurate independently tested system worldwide.

"Facial analysis software essentially uses different features of a customer's face to evaluate and establish their age," said Tony Allen, founder and chief executive of the ACCS.