Department of Home Affairs Australia

Department of Home Affairs Australia: Biometrics: Use of the Face Verification Service to assist Australians in need

The Face Verification Service (FVS) is a secure online service that helps people to verify their identity in a way that is fast, secure and private, without having to present documents in person, making it easier to access government services.

The FVS enables Australian government agencies to check a person’s photo against a government-issued photo identity document record. This is called a ‘one-to-one’ check and helps to confirm the identity of a known person. A small number of Australian government agencies have commenced trialling use of the Face Verification Service, with consent from the individuals involved and in circumstances where this is permitted by current laws.

The FVS helps to protect people from identity crime, which is a key concern for many Australians.

• 1 in 10 Australians are impacted by identity crime each year.
• The total economic impact of identity crime in Australia is approximately $3.1 billion per year. This includes $2.1 billion in direct costs and a further $1 billion in costs associated with lost outputs, prevention and response costs incurred by government, business and individuals.

(Australian Institute of Criminology Report “Counting the costs of identity crime and misuse in Australia, 2018-19”).

The FVS also helps victims of identity crime reclaim their identity faster, and helps in other cases where people can’t access their identity documents, such as natural disaster victims.

The FVS builds on the success of the Document Verification Service (DVS), which has been available to Australian government agencies for more than 10 years, and to the private sector since 2014.

The DVS is a national online system that enables organisations to compare a customer’s identity information, such as name and date of birth, with government records and is currently used by more than 160 Australian Commonwealth, state and territory agencies and almost 2000 private sector organisations.

During the 2019-20 summer, Australia was experiencing catastrophic bushfires. Services Australia responded to the emergency with an FVS pilot to reduce the burden on people seeking disaster relief payments. The pilot was focused on helping people to prove who they are in the absence of physical documents.

Twelve Service Centres across New South Wales and Victoria trialled the use of the FVS for the emergency payments for bushfires. During this period, more than 700 customers confirmed their identity using the FVS, including people unable to retrieve identity documents due to the continued fire threat.

In accordance with FVS requirements, individuals were asked if they consented to their identity being biometrically verified. Images of their faces were captured via a camera attachment (similar to a webcam) that was positioned on service officers’ computer monitors, and compared online to government identity records to confirm a match.

Using the FVS supported individuals and families by saving them from sourcing additional identity documents, such as an Australian Birth Certificate or Australian Citizenship Certificate, avoiding the need for customers to return to a Service Centre with their identity documents and reducing administrative burdens at a distressing time in their lives, thus reducing the emotional toll.

Here are just two of the success stories from this pilot:

• A 91 year old customer attended a Service Centre to provide identity documents for an Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment claim. The customer’s husband, also claiming, was in the car. He was unable to walk into the office as he did not have his walker with him. The couple had been evacuated from their home due to the bushfires and were staying in a motel. Both customers had a current passport but did not have the passports with them. With customer consent, the Services Australia team used the FVS Portal for customer number one. The team then walked out to the car and spoke with customer number two. With his consent, they captured his image while he sat in the car and successfully matched it through the FVS Portal.

Without the FVS, the customer would have been required to come back at a later date with physical identity documents. This was a great outcome for them and for Services Australia.

• A customer in his 90’s attended a Service Centre in early January. He had been evacuated from his home, leaving all his belongings (including all identity documents) thinking he would return when it was safe. Unfortunately, his home and property were destroyed by bushfire. The Services Australia team was able to grant an emergency payment for the customer on the spot and without identity documents by using an image of his face in the FVS portal to verify his identity with the government’s records.

The majority of customers responded positively to the technology and its use, saying they felt their identity was being protected by the Agency. Many customers reflected on how easy the service was to use and the amount of time it saved them from trying to locate a physical document and come back to a Service Centre with that document. Less than 5% of participants asked did not consent to use the technology.

The FVS offers immediate, contactless identity verification to assist with disaster recovery activities, such as the timely provision of relief payments, or re-issuance of lost or stolen identity credentials.

Outcomes from the pilot demonstrated that the use of the FVS can more confidently provide vulnerable customers with the payments and services they need, when they need them, as seamlessly as possible.

Australian Department of Home Affairs
Matt Huntington
+ 61 (02) 5127 7301
Matt.Huntington@homeaffairs.gov.au
Department of Home Affairs were a Founding Member in Australia

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