Govt. Gateway ID issue

overandunder

Hi all, new member here.  I wanted to ask if anyone here has had issues trying to prove their ID as part of the Government Gateway setup ?  My wife has opened a Govt. Gateway account with no issue - but the next step is the ID proof stage.  We have tried everything - Passport entry (manual details and photo scan, including face scan), Driving licence (again, manual entry + photo scan), P60 details and wageslip, inc Nat. Ins number - but nothing works.  We have contacted the 'help desk' - but that just leads to circular email advice and gets nowhere.  My wife is a UK citizen from birth, has never lived or worked outside the UK, etc, so we are at a loss as to what could be wrong.  Anyone else had similar problems - or have any tips ?  Much appreciated.

Teapot55

Are you using a computer or a mobile phone to do the ID proof?

Do you get an error message for everything you do or does it accept your answers all the way through but right at the end the ID proof is rejected?

Spelunthus

It worked well for me and wife last year.

My only general advice is to try to use a PC rather than a phone or tablet for the process.

What exactly went wrong with Passport or Driving licence entry ?  

Were they rejected?  Why ? Any messages to suggest the problem?

overandunder

Teapot55 said:

Are you using a computer or a mobile phone to do the ID proof?

Do you get an error message for everything you do or does it accept your answers all the way through but right at the end the ID proof is rejected?

The latter - the process appears to work like clockwork - but right at the end you get 'it hasn't been possible to verify....'

overandunder

Spelunthus said:

It worked well for me and wife last year.

My only general advice is to try to use a PC rather than a phone or tablet for the process.

What exactly went wrong with Passport or Driving licence entry ?  

Were they rejected?  Why ? Any messages to suggest the problem?

It all appears to run through the process without any issue - but at the end only issues a 'it hasn't been possible to verify your id...' message.  You need to use both a phone (for the faceID camera tech) and also a PC.

Teapot55

A number of possibilities. (The frustrating bit is they won’t tell you which bit was wrong because if the person applying was a fraudster they’d be giving them a clue as to which wrong bit of information they needed to change). 

It could be the postcode: check you’ve put the space in if that’s what it wants, or not if it doesn’t want it. Check that your device hasn’t added in a space after the postcode because that might mess it up. 

The first line of your address: easy if you live in 23 Beech Street, Anytown but if you live in 6 Acacia Heights, Beech Street, Anytown their system might not recognise the address. 

The date your wife moved into the current address - this can be a thorny one because the date needs to be exactly the same as what was stated on any previous official application for anything. If it doesn’t tally exactly with what they have on their system it’ll cause the process to fail. 

overandunder

@Teapot55 - you're absolutely right, if they can 'see' where or which part is incorrect they won't give even a slight hint....very frustrating.

Your comment about postcode is an interesting one.  We have a 7 character p/code - which some websites get picky about as you say, with some sites requiring a space after the first 4 characters - and others not.  Will re-try this.  Thanks

xylophone

Otherwise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79964072/#Comment_79964072

Teapot55

overandunder said:

@Teapot55 . . . Your comment about postcode is an interesting one.  We have a 7 character p/code - which some websites get picky about as you say, with some sites requiring a space after the first 4 characters - and others not.  Will re-try this.  Thanks

Note that it’s also the space  after a postcode that often isn’t tolerated by some software. That’s why I wondered if you were using a mobile - what seems to happen is the smartphone software thinks the postcode is two words and the predictive text helpfully adds a space after each ‘word’. But the software of the website you’re on sees a password as a ‘field’ [I surmise] requiring a set number of characters. Anyway, whatever the actual technical reason I’ve found in the past that deleting any space after the postcode can help. 

TaoSantos

My wife has had the same issue when trying to create an account to access her State Pension Forecast. After some searches on Google we came across this which may be the reason (I cant provide a link as I've not been around long enough apparently but just google Gov.uk verify): 

Services are no longer using GOV.UK Verify

GOV.UK Verify is no longer being used by any government services. This means you can no longer create a new identity account, or use an existing identity account to sign in to any government services.

We are just leaving it a while now until they get their act together and provide another way a new user can verify their identity as it doesn't offer any explanation or alternative at the moment.

xylophone

My wife has had the same issue when trying to create an account to access her State Pension Forecast.

Even as a new user?

https://www.access.service.gov.uk/login/signin/creds