As the UK prepares to update its Mandatory Licensing Conditions (MLC) later this year, retailers face a clear challenge on how to benefit from changes to in-store age checks, using digital proof.
Manual ID checks are a known source of friction, frustrating customers, placing staff in difficult situations, and increasing the risk of underage sales. With the upcoming update to Mandatory Licensing Conditions (MLC), digital proof of age is finally on the table for alcohol purchases.
This shift presents the retail industry with a clear choice: navigate the transition or lead it. For forward-thinking operators, it’s a chance to enhance customer experience, reduce conflict, and position their brand at the forefront of responsible innovation
Digital identity platform, Luciditi, has launched the “AgeProof SDK” – proof of age issuing technology and the first of its kind in the market. It enables establishments to be amongst the first in the UK to adopt this new technology for loyalty and customer apps so that they can:
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Minimise conflict and queues at the till
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Cut costs and curb fraud
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Simplify compliance
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Standardise age checks
Philip Young, CTO and Co-Founder at Luciditi, said: “Retailers don’t need to become digital identity experts or rebuild their tech to offer mobile age verification and customers don’t need yet another app.
“We’ve created a first-of-its-kind solution that integrates effortlessly into existing loyalty and customer apps. There’s no huge development cycle needed, no compliance complexity – just a simple, secure way for customers to prove their age using the apps they already trust.”
For retailers, the benefit is twofold – a smoother customer experience and a proactive path to regulatory alignment ahead of anticipated enforcement of updated Mandatory Licensing Conditions.
While the legal framework hasn’t changed since 2014, Home Office guidance now supports digital proof of age prompting early adopters to prepare for launch in time for the most significant operational shift in alcohol licensing in over a decade.
With digital proof of age soon to be recognised in law, retailers have the opportunity to turn a compliance obligation into a customer-friendly innovation.
