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Konfir becomes the first government certified provider of employment and income data, globally
Use of personal data
Personal data runs through all products and services. From your LinkedIn profile, to the creation of your utility bills, all the way through to the algorithms that predict which Instagram post to show next. It’s everywhere. We take for granted that this information is secure and accurate, but in reality it’s often uncontrolled, unreliable, and inconsistent. Although GDPR introduced landmark regulation on what can’t be done with personal data, there has been limited progress on establishing what a trustworthy standard looks like. Fortunately, the old processes for handling personal data, which are susceptible to human error, fraud, and other risks, are being made obsolete by a shift to a standard method of integration, verification, security, and storage.
Building trust
We’re proud to be certified by the Kantara Initiative as the first Attribute Service Provider (ASP) under the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), and at the front of the shift in determining how employment and income data is captured, verified, stored and shared. Over the last year we’ve collaborated with the industry, including custodians of data, service providers, employers and candidates alike to build a solution that can from today be formally “trusted”. We believe this trust sets the new standard for personal data and more specifically for income and employment data. Over time, we expect certified attribute providers to be mandatory in data supply chains for all imaginable use cases. This highly sensitive and important data must be managed in a standardised and auditable way moving forward.
The DCMS DIATF, which governs this certification, has set the stage for this step change. You can find our summary of the Trust Framework here. Throughout 2022 a lot work has been done on digital ID with a number of ID Service Providers (IDSPs) becoming certified and now in use across the UK. However, proving someone’s identity is just one part of the process and manual steps remain to prove an individual can do the job that they say they can. That’s where Konfir comes in. Our role is to generate verified employment and income attributes, which can then be shared with relying parties including; background checkers, employers, recruiters, landlords and lenders or IDSPs. Because of the rigorous process through which Konfir’s attributes are created, they are trusted and ‘bind’ to the individual’s identity which can then be used standalone or in conjunction with an IDSP. Relying parties and IDSPs, alike, can integrate with Konfir to return these attributes via an online Konsole, API, or other bespoke solutions.
The impact
So why is the Trust Framework so important? Having the right regulations in place is paramount, but they mean very little if you can’t easily determine whether they’re being followed. Separating the trustworthy from the rest is not the only benefit for consumers, it also saves time and reduces risk. As more organisations use this personal data, they will look to certified providers, their consumption of the data then becoming more standardised and efficient. Most importantly, consumers can be assured that the right rules are in place, the standards are being met, and solutions are being built to make their lives easier and more secure.
What’s next
We’re proud to be leading in this area which the UK Government is pioneering, with no equivalent employment data standards in Europe or North America. As the scope of the Trust Framework grows, industry can evolve as it places more emphasis on the quality of its data. And because the bar has been raised, so too will industry’s expectations; having a certified and trusted data partner in your supply chain will become the norm. Alongside this, Konfir will continue to innovate and create intelligence across employment and income verification.
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