Latest Care Identity Service news and events

The latest news across Care Identity Service and related topics.

For the latest releases and planned maintenance within Care Identity Service, go to our release hub.

Feature Focus schedule

Schedule of forthcoming Feature Focus sessions to update Registration Authorities on the latest Care Identity Service developments. (Updated 22 September 2025)

Service vulnerability in NHS Identity Agent - mandatory update required

We have identified there is a medium-severity service vulnerability with all previous versions of the NHS Identity Agent, including v2.4.5.0, and v2.4.6.0. (Published 10 September 2025)

Outages for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 - updated schedule

IT teams need to update to the latest version of Identity Agent. Failure to update could result in authentication issues and service disruption. (Updated 19 August 2025)

Spine Directory Service (SDS) upgrade on Saturday 19 July 2025

We are carrying out an upgrade to the Spine DEX hosts on Saturday 19 July 2025 between 10:00am and 11:00am. (Published 9 July 2025)

Moving from CIS1 Identity Agent to CIS2 Smartcard Connect

NHS CIS1 Identity Agent will no longer be supported from February 2027 and all organisations will need to use NHS CIS2 Smartcard Connect from that date. (Updated 24 June 2025)

REMINDER: changes to NHSE Path to Live environments

The TRAIN and DEV environments will both be decommissioned on 31 July 2025. (Updated 11 June 2025)

Action required by IT teams to support ongoing use of Care Identity Service

Important dates for IT teams as we update infrastructure and authentication. (Published 28 May 2025)

Identity and Access Management roadshow May 2025

Details of the next roadshow for Registration Authority users, taking place on Wednesday 7 May 2025. (Published 15 April 2025)

System-generated position assignments expiry reminder

These positions were due to expire 31 December 2024 and should all have been removed from users in your organisation. (Published 6 March 2025)

Position assignment expiry issue resolved

Multiple sites previously reported multiple users experiencing a loss of access to services. (Updated 26 February 2025)

Guidance for Registration Authority users on creating a profile for a staff member with an eVisa

Changes to creating new user profiles with the start of the rollout of eVisas. (Published 17 January 2025)

Revised dates for the phasing out of smartcard series 4, 5 and 6

We've updated the dates from which older version Care Identity Service smartcards must be removed from NHS organisations. (Published 10 January 2025)

Revised retirement date for CIS1 Authentication

CIS1 Authentication will now be retired on 28 February 2027. (Published 3 January 2025)

Smartcard series 4, 5 and 6 are being phased out from 31 January 2025

Certificate renewal will end in January, and authentication with these smartcards will no longer be available after 30 April 2025. (Published 10 December 2024)

Issue discovered relating to positions managed by ESR

We've released a fix for an issue we discovered with a release last week. (Updated 25 October 2024)

Video of the Identity and Access Management roadshow October 2024

Video and slides of the latest IAM roadshow, which took place on Tuesday 15 October. (Published 16 October 2024)

Identity and Access Management roadshow October 2024

Details of the next roadshow for Registration Authority users, taking place on Tuesday 15 October 2024. (Updated 8 October 2024)

Self-service improvements in Care Identity Management

We've added new options for registering non-smartcard authenticators and unlocking your own smartcard. (Published 25 September 2024)

Changes to reports in Care Identity Management

We've made some changes to how reports work to make them more efficient and accurate, and provide more information. (Published 27 August 2024)

Identity and Access Management roadshow July 2024

Video of the latest IAM roadshow, which took place on Tuesday 23 July. (Published 23 July 2024)

Changes to how you accept terms and conditions

Terms and conditions are now implicitly accepted when you use a smartcard. (Published 28 June 2024)

The Chrome extension will no longer be available from 31 May 2024

The Chrome extension was deprecated on 1 January 2024 and will be retired on 31 May 2024. (Re-published 24 May 2024)

Care Identity Management will replace the Care Identity Service application on 12 June 2024

The Care Identity Service Application will be closed to users on 12 June 2024. All users will need to start using Care Identity Management before that date. (Published 9 May 2024)

New drop-in sessions for Apply for Care ID

We’re running additional informal online sessions for those who want to learn more about Apply for Care ID and how to use the service. (Published 2 May 2024)

Deprecation notice: reporting, workgroup assignment and position management will no longer be able available in the CIS application

From 15 May 2024, reporting, workgroup assignment and position management will no longer be available in the old Care Identity Service application. (Published 1 May 2024)

Deprecation notice: sponsors will no longer be able to use the CIS application from 15 May 2024

From 15 May 2024 Sponsors will no longer to be able to create new user profiles or assigns and manages positions in the old Care Identity Service application (Published 1 May 2024)

Drop-in sessions for Apply for Care ID

We’re running informal online sessions for those who want to learn more about Apply for Care ID and how to use the service. (Published 3 April 2024)

Deprecation notice: user creation and smartcard management is changing on 17 April 2024

You must use Care Identity Management to create new user profiles and issue and manage smartcards. From 17 April 2024 you will no longer to be able to create new user profiles or issue and manage smartcards in the old Care Identity Service application. (Published 27 March 2024)

System-generated position assignments are all expiring on 31 December 2024

You can use the SYSPOS tool to find affected users in your organisation. (Published 19 March 2024)

Video of the Identity and Access Management roadshow March 2024

Video of the first IAM roadshow of the year, on Tuesday 19 March 2024, and a PDF of the slides shown. (Published 19 March 2024)

Drop-in sessions for unlockers using Care Identity Management

We're running online drop-in sessions in January and February aimed at unlockers (local smartcard administrators) who want to know more about using Care Identity Management. (Updated 25 January 2024)

REMINDER: how you unlock smartcards is changing on 31 January 2024

You must now use self-service or Care Identity Management to unlock smartcards. (Published 18 January 2024)

Deprecation notice: unlocking smartcards in the CIS application

From 31 January 2024, NHS England will no longer allow smartcards to be unlocked in the CIS application. Users must switch to Care Identity Management. (Published 22 December 2023)

Feature Focus - 19 and 21 December 2023

Review new sponsor position assignment functionality in Care Identity Management. The same session is repeated on Tuesday and Thursday. (Published 15 December 2023)

Change to smartcard certificate lengths

Smartcard certificate lengths are being increased from 2 years to 3 years. (Published 1 December 2023)

Retirement notice: IF-DLP Registration and IF-DLP Authentication

IF-DLP Registration and IF-DLP Authentication will be deprecated on 31 January 2024. Both services will then be retired on 31 March 2024. (Published 22 November 2023)

Recording of the series 9 smartcard tech event (9 November 2023)

On 9 November 2023 we held an online event about the technical implementation of series 9 smartcards and the software required to use the new cards. (Published 10 November 2023)

Feature Focus - 14 and 16 November 2023

Review Registration Authority granting and position assignment requests in Care Identity Management. The same session is repeated on Tuesday and Thursday. (Published 8 November 2023)

Identity and Access Management roadshow November 2023

A recording of our 7 November 2023 roadshow, discussing the latest developments in Identity and Access Management's products and services. (Published 7 November 2023)

Registration Authority newsletter October 2023

Online version of the October 2023 newsletter sent to the Registration Authority community. (Published 3 October 2023)

Self-service smartcard unlock - migration to new application complete

The old registration-based service for unlocking smartcards has now been switched off. (Published 25 September 2023)

Recording of the series 9 smartcard broadcast event

Video of the recent event that outlined the software required for the new smartcards. (Published 22 September 2023)

New self-service smartcard unlock application launched

NHS England has built an improved service to help people unlock their own smartcards and change their passcodes. (Published 6 September 2023)

Register for the NHS England CSMS and self-service smartcard unlock online event - 7 September 2023

An event covering important updates to the new Cervical Screening Management System (CSMS) and the new Care Identity Management self-service smartcard unlock feature. This event is specifically for Registration Authorities, and those who work with RAs. (Published 1 September 2023)

Care Identity Service roadshow June 2023

A recording of the June 2023 roadshow, and answers to questions brought up in the session. (Published 1 September 2023)

Change to smartcard passcode requirements

Smartcards now require all passcodes to be 6-8-digits in length and only contain number values. (Published 6 July 2023)

Changes to guidance for Registration Authority and smartcard users

Information on changes to the Care Identity Service guidance and help on this website. (Published 26 June 2023)

Guidance for Registration Authorities accessing the new NHS Cervical Screening Management System

Information for Registration Authorities on getting a smartcard and the correct roles to access the new system. (Published 23 June 2023)

Guidance on clearing your Browser/Java cache

The steps to take to clear your Chrome, Edge and Java cache. (Published 13 June 2023)

Emergency registration has ended

Guidance introduced when face-to-face identity checks were not available during the pandemic has now ended. (Published 5 June 2023)

Registration Authority newsletter June 2023

Online version of the June 2023 newsletter sent to the Registration Authority community. (Published 1 June 2023)

As of 31 March 2024, NHS CIS2 will no longer work in IE11 and Edge "IE Mode"

If you try access NHS Care Identity Service using Internet Explorer or Edge "IE Mode" after 31 March 2024, you may find that it does not work. (Published 20 April 2023)

Deprecation notice: CIS1 Authentication

Internal NHS England (previously NHS Digital) services are to migrate to NHS CIS2 Authentication by the original date of September 2023. Suppliers have an additional year to migrate to NHS CIS2 Authentication, with a new retirement date of 30 September 2024. (Published 21 February 2023)

CIS Diagnostic Tool v2.3

NHS Digital CIS Diagnostic Tool v2.3 is now on general release and available for download. (Published 15 February 2019)

Oberthur SR8 middleware and PKCS#11 SR3 for the self-renew of Series 8 Smartcards

NHS Digital will be making an update to Card Management Services (CMS) within the Care Identity Service (CIS) application to support a new version of Oberthur middleware. (Published 13 June 2018)

Last edited: 22 September 2025 9:39 am