UK Online Safety Act Age Assurance

Age assurance is the process of checking or estimating a user's age. The UK Government says services should use age estimation and age verification, and that the Act requires a wide range of services to deploy highly effective age assurance to protect children from extremely harmful content, including pornography and content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.

For visitors, the practical question is simple: if children are likely to use the service, does the service need age assurance, and if so, what method will be used, who owns it, and how will the team show it is working?

Ownership should sit with the team that can change the product, policy, or safety controls, with legal and trust-safety review where needed.

Evidence should show the service scope, the age assurance method, the decision, the owner, and the review trail.

Boundary issues usually arise when a service is partly in scope, when a feature changes, or when children can access a service in a way the team did not expect.

Use this section before launching a new feature, changing a recommender, changing moderation rules, or updating an age assurance flow.

Use a workflow that captures service scope, user groups, risk assessment, child-access status, the age assurance method, the owner, and the escalation path.

The output should be a short service memo, a decision record, and the evidence needed to show the control was reviewed and approved.