Survey of age assurance circumvention by young people
Details
- Value
- £49,500
- Duration
- 2 months
- Topic
- Research and development services and related consultancy services
- Published
- 19 March 2026
- Source
- uk:contracts_finder
Tender description
In July 2025 the Online Safety Act's Child Safety Duties came into force, requiring online services to implement highly effective age assurance measures to prevent children from accessing harmful or age-inappropriate content. These duties were a major milestone in the government's approach to improving children's online safety. Following implementation, Ofcom reported that UK daily active users of virtual private networks (VPN) apps temporarily doubled to around 1.5 million. Emerging research suggests that this spike in VPN usage was not primarily driven by child users. We are interested in exploring this further. Findings will inform government understanding, help shape future interventions and ensure the Act delivers its intended protections for children. To inform government understanding, we want to explore the impact of circumvention techniques and VPNs further. To better understand the prevalence and methods of age assurance circumvention among children, including the use of VPNs.
Timeline
- Completed: Award date9 March 2026
- Completed: Award published19 March 2026Current notice
- Completed: Contract expiry date8 May 2026
About the buyer
The Department for Science Innovation and Technology is a central government department, and a dedicated commercial directorate leads on its procurement work alongside project and delivery teams. Larger opportunities are advertised as notices on the Find a Tender Service. Common goods and services are bought through Crown Commercial Service frameworks. UK Shared Business Services, a shared-services provider, manages many of the department's lower-value procurements on its behalf. Low-value orders require multiple supplier quotes to ensure value for money. Supplier diversity targets guide how contracts reach small and medium-sized enterprises across the supply chain.
Procurement spend from central entities makes up 66% of overall UK public spend.
Over the past 5 years, most of the Department for Science Innovation and Technology's contract awards have been in IT services, research and development and software and information systems.
Relevant CPV codes
- 73000000 · Research and development services and related consultancy services
Decision makers
Connect with the people behind this procurement.
| Contact name | Job title | Phone number | Work email |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head of Procurement | +44 •••• •••••• | ••••••••@department-for-science-innovation-and-technology.gov | |
| Commercial Director | +44 •••• •••••• | ••••••••@department-for-science-innovation-and-technology.gov | |
| Procurement Manager | +44 •••• •••••• | ••••••••@department-for-science-innovation-and-technology.gov | |
| Category Lead | +44 •••• •••••• | ••••••••@department-for-science-innovation-and-technology.gov | |
| Senior Buyer | +44 •••• •••••• | ••••••••@department-for-science-innovation-and-technology.gov | |
| Contracts Manager | +44 •••• •••••• | ••••••••@department-for-science-innovation-and-technology.gov |
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