[glenjamin]

I think a lot of the more recent issues with gov.uk are the result of some defanging of the central service, leaving departments with more rope to do their own thing and believe that they know best.

Identity in particular is a complex subject, AIUI the original Verify project had to exist in the shadow of the No2ID campaign, which led them to avoid a centralised ID system. This then led to a much more complicated approach that was unable to cater for the needs of some of the departments.

For example, HMRC needed individuals and companies to be able to log in, and for whatever reason this was deemed unworkable with Verify, and thus they build the grandly titled "goverment gateway" auth system - and then I would assume that other depts saw this and decided that meant they could or should build their own auth systems too.