Help completing the online form

If you've not received a 6-digit security code to your phone

Make sure you have waited a few minutes for the code to come through.

Check that the phone number is correct. If the number is wrong, see the section on how to change the phone number associated with your application.

If the number is correct, this issue could be because:

• you do not have sufficient signal to receive the text - try to send it again in a different location
• your phone provider is preventing the delivery of the text message - you may need to contact them or provide a different phone number for your inviter to use to re-invite you
• there's a technical issue with the service - please try again later

If the issue persists you can contact [email protected], including your application ID and full details of the issue for the team to investigate.

If you need to change the phone number on your application, contact your Registration Authority manager, agent or sponsor. Their email address will be included in your invite email.

Do not contact the National Service Desk email address - this team will not be able to contact your inviter on your behalf.

You may need to be sent a new application invite, depending on how far you are through the process.

You must contact the Registration Authority manager, agent or sponsor who is managing your application. Their email address will be included in your invite email.

You may need to book a face-to-face meeting with them instead.

You should contact the Registration Authority manager, agent or sponsor who is managing your application. Their email address will be included in your invite email. You may need to book a face-to-face meeting for them to check and update your existing Care ID.

If you're not sure which address to include in the online address check

If you are, for example, a student and have a term time address that differs from a non-term time address, ensure the address you use has some connections to your name.

The system will be checking for connections between the address and name you provide with banks, utility providers, local council and electoral register, for example. Only you will be able to see that this check has been performed and it will not affect your credit score.

Which address to use if you've moved recently

If you have very recently changed your address, then you may use your previous address if you think that your new address is unlikely to show up any matches to your name.

The system will be checking for connections between the address and name you provide with banks, utility providers, local council and electoral register, for example. Only you will be able to see that this check has been performed and it will not affect your credit score.

If you do not have a UK address yet

If you do not have a current UK address, then do not select to prove your address through the online TransUnion check.

Select ‘Provide a proof of address document’. You'll need to provide a proof of address document for your non-UK address and 2 forms of photo ID.

Providing a proof of address document

You will need 1 proof of address if either:

• the online address check cannot prove your address
• you choose not to complete the online address check

We will accept documents from joint accounts with your name and the name of one or more account holders.

Using online bills and statements for proof of address

We accept a photo or uploaded PDF of the following document types:

• bank statement
• mortgage statement
• council statement
• utility bill

Make sure that your name and address, the issue date, and the branding of the company that issued the statement are visible in the photo or PDF.

We do not accept screenshot images. 

You can email the photo to yourself and upload it from your computer. To do this:

1. Go to your phone’s gallery of photos and select the photo you want to use.
2. Select an option to share this photo.
3. Select an email option.
4. The email should auto-populate with the photo attached and your email address as the sender. Email the image to an email address that you can access on your computer.
5. On your computer, you should find the email that you’ve sent to yourself with the photo attached. Select the photo and download it to your computer.
6. Return to the Apply for Care ID ‘Upload photo’ screen and it should enable you to find your recently downloaded photo in your computer files, often in the ‘Downloads’ section.

If the online form has timed out, return to your invite email and begin the form again, using the same link.

If your name is now different to the one on your ID document

If your given name or family name do not match your photo IDs, you may not be able to prove your identity using the online service.

You should contact the Registration Authority manager, agent or sponsor who is managing your application. Their email address will be included in your invite email.

If you do not have the correct documents or one of them has expired

If you do not have the documents then you must contact the RA manager, agent or sponsor who is managing your application. You may need to book a face-to-face appointment with them instead.

Accepted photo ID

You will need an in-date photo ID, or 2 photo IDs if the online address check cannot prove your address (or if you choose not to use it). 

Apart from passports, which can be expired by up to 6 months, we will not accept other expired photo ID documents.