Before you issue a credential

Before you can issue a credential, you must do the following.

Onboard with GOV.UK One Login

GOV.UK Wallet uses GOV.UK One Login to authenticate users. This process makes sure that credentials are issued into a wallet that is logged in as the same user the credential is for.

You must complete the onboarding process for GOV.UK One Login before you can issue credentials to GOV.UK Wallet. There’s further guidance on onboarding to GOV.UK One Login.

When you complete the GOV.UK One Login onboarding process, make sure you have:

• requested that the GOV.UK One Login onboarding team activates the walletSubjectId custom claim for your GOV.UK One Login client - this is a pairwise identifier used to prove that the user logged in to your service and to GOV.UK Wallet are the same user
• your unique client identifier - this identifier must be included as a claim (client_id) in the pre-authorised code your service generates as part of issuing a GOV.UK Wallet credential offer

Agree a credential template

Your credential template will be created from the following details:

• the credential type - this can be mdoc or JWT VC
• the attributes you want to include in the digital credential and its schema
• the colour of the digital card
• whether users can have multiple instances of this credential, or only one at a time

Before you can issue a credential, you must confirm these with the GOV.UK Wallet onboarding team.

To integrate with GOV.UK Wallet, you must send the GOV.UK Wallet team your:

• issuer URL (both integration and production)
• issuer logo in English and Welsh

Follow relevant standards

When you are preparing to issue a credential to GOV.UK Wallet you must align with open standards.

GOV.UK Wallet will support multiple credential formats to represent government documents. These documents can be:

• mdoc-based credentials for the digital driving licence
• other verifiable credentials (VCs), including W3C Verifiable Credential Data Model 2.0 and later other formats allowing selective disclosure of attributes

GOV.UK Wallet supports OpenID Connect for Verifiable Credential Issuance (OIDC4VCI) for its issuance flow.

You should also:

• follow the government Service Standard, for example making all information available in Welsh
• use findings identified by your user research to meet your users’ needs, as specified in the Government Design Principles

To get started, you need to authenticate users with GOV.UK One Login.

This page was last reviewed on 4 December 2025. It needs to be reviewed again on 4 June 2026 .