For businesses
Validate a courier without repeating KYC.
Courier businesses should not each re-run identity, licence, insurance, and DBS. Ask whether the driver holds an issued, currently valid Courier Passport.
The only question that matters
GET /api/v1/passports/{number}
- valid — pass
- expiring — pass with a warning
- not_issued, expired, or suspended — fail
How onboarding works
1. Register your business
Create a partner account with your Companies House number. Sandbox API keys are available immediately. Live keys after KYB and a signed DPA.
2. Driver shares a passport
In person they hold up the iPhone card (you can read VALID and scan the QR). By email or online they send the number and link. Incomplete applications are not passports — a public scan never shows valid.
3. Request consent
POST /api/v1/consents. The driver approves in their hub or on their phone. Without consent the lookup is denied.
4. Ask one question
GET /api/v1/passports/{number}. Treat valid as a pass. Expiring can pass with a warning. Everything else is a fail.
Sandbox then live
Create hashed API keys in the business hub. Sandbox first. Production keys after KYB. Keys are shown once — store them in a secrets manager, never in a client app.
Stay in date
Webhooks for passport.issued, passport.expiring, passport.expired, passport.revalidated, passport.suspended, and consent.revoked. Signed with HMAC. No document payloads.
Phone, email, or paste
Face to face: read VALID on their screen, or scan the QR to attach them. Email / online: they send CP-UK-… and a link. You request access; they approve; then your API answers whether it is currently valid. An incomplete application must not scan as a pass.
What you receive
- Passport number, overall status, issue and expiry dates
- Required-check summary: type, status, dates, evidence strength (including insurer_confirmed when a partner insurer has confirmed courier van, goods in transit, or public liability cover)
- DBS result band only (for example clear), never the certificate file
- A lookup audit you can show internally
What you never receive
- Veriff or identity images
- Raw DVLA enquiry payloads
- DBS certificate PDFs
- A transfer of right-to-work or insurance legal duty — you still decide who to hire
Who pays
Drivers are free for the core passport so the network can form. Businesses pay a platform fee and per live lookup. Identity, DBS, and occupational-health provider costs may be passed through to whoever requested that module.