Older smartcards and Identity Agent versions now blocked

Care Identity Service authentication with older smartcards and Identity Agent versions was blocked permanently at 8:00am today, 7 May 2026.

Series 5 and series 6 smartcards have now been permanently blocked from authentication. This follows the permanent block of series 4 smartcards in February 2026.

If your smartcard is blocked, you will see this message.

The following versions of Identity Agent are now permanently blocked from authentication:

• BT Identity Agent v13
• NHS Digital v1
• NHS Digital v2
• 2.1.2.16
• 2.2.1.0
• 2.2.2.0
• 2.2.3.7
• 2.2.3.9
• 2.3.0.0
• 2.3.2.0
• 2.4.5.0
• 2.4.6.0

If your Identity Agent version is blocked, you will see this message.

If you see this message, you need to update to the latest version.

Find out more about the blocking of:

• older smartcards
• older Identity Agent versions