UK Access Management Federation
A single solution trust framework used by institutions across the UK to safely and securely access online resources and services.
The UK Access Management Federation (also known as the UK federation or UKAMF) provides a sector-wide solution to accessing online resources and services for education and research institutions.
The UK federation is a framework for federated authentication and authorisation based on SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language). It allows people to access resources anytime and anywhere, without needing to be on-campus or on a virtual private network (VPN). As it's used across the sector, you don't have to manage multiple protocols with multiple partners. If you are concerned about GDPR and DPA, then your organisation can choose by default that no personally identifiable data is ever shared.
Investing in the UK federation provides an end to the multiple data sharing agreements, clunky user experiences, complex password management policies and clogged IT helpdesks that many institutions struggle with.
How does federated access work?
Federated access is where there are mutually agreed, trusted policies for sharing user information, resources and services. So when a user attempts to access a resource, it is their home institution that authenticates them to do so. It does this by vouching for the user’s identity, whose personal information and credentials remains by default with their host institution.
Using one username and password to access resources across different platforms, applications and locations is called single sign-on (SSO).
Find out why the UK federation was created and what it achieves in our introduction to access management video (YouTube).
Case study: saving time and money by implementing the UK federation
Read how North Warwickshire and Hinckley College is reaping considerable benefits after switching to Shibboleth.
Benefits
As well as protecting personal data and offering enhanced security, the UK federation also exclusively provides access to:
- Over 300 UK federation service providers and thousands more across the world via the the UK federation's participation in eduGAIN
- Over 100 Jisc licensing resources (subject to licence) through single sign-on access
- Free Jisc e-books for further education (FE)
- Student discounts and rewards through VerifID
- A free dedicated UK federation helpdesk so you have a team of knowledgeable experts on hand
Over 95% of UK higher education institutions and over 90% of further education institutions in the UK are using the UK federation.
Apply to join the UK federation
Eligibility
Any of our member organisations as well as service providers offering services to the UK education sector, are eligible to participate in the UK federation. Organisations that are funded by by Office for Students (OfS) and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) as well as UK further education institutions can join free of charge.
Institutions not funded by OfS, UKRI or UK FE funders may be liable for a £1000 per annum membership charge if they are looking to register an institution identity provider platform. Those registering a service provider platform maybe subject to a charge. Read further details of the membership charge policy.
Individual users do not need to separately join the service. Instead, if you are a member of a participating organisation and you have an institutional logon account, you can use the UK federation.
Any of our member organisations as well as service providers offering services to the UK education sector, are eligible to participate in the UK federation. Organisations that are funded by by Office for Students (OfS) and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) as well as UK further education institutions can join free of charge.
Institutions not funded by OfS, UKRI or UK FE funders may be liable for a £1000 per annum membership charge if they are looking to register an institution identity provider platform. Those registering a service provider platform maybe subject to a charge. Read further details of the membership charge policy.
Individual users do not need to separately join the service. Instead, if you are a member of a participating organisation and you have an institutional logon account, you can use the UK federation.
Service providers
Organisations seeking to make their resources and service available through the UK federation can either notify the UK federation that they have a third party who are registered with the UK federation to do that on their behalf, or join the UK federation themselves. For more information, visit the UK federation website.
Verification for commercial purposes
Service providers seeking to verify the affiliation of institutional members, such as students and staff, for commercial purposes - rather than the provision of academic resources, are not eligible to join the UK federation, but may interact with the service by joining VerifID.
For further details please contact info@verifid.ac.uk.
Organisations seeking to make their resources and service available through the UK federation can either notify the UK federation that they have a third party who are registered with the UK federation to do that on their behalf, or join the UK federation themselves. For more information, visit the UK federation website.
Verification for commercial purposes
Service providers seeking to verify the affiliation of institutional members, such as students and staff, for commercial purposes - rather than the provision of academic resources, are not eligible to join the UK federation, but may interact with the service by joining VerifID.
For further details please contact info@verifid.ac.uk.
Service level description
Service description
A service that provides organisations with:
- A federated access infrastructure for participating UK educational organisations and education based service providers. This includes a UK federation metadata registry service with nightly updates of entity registration
- A helpdesk providing technical, general federated access queries and membership and registration support available by phone via the service desk 0300 300 2212 or email via service@ukfederation.org.uk
Hours of service
The metadata registry service and helpdesk are available during the business day as defined in service level description definitions.
Security
Organisations must ensure they understand and adhere to our security policy and UK federation rules of membership.
Charges
Organisations that are not UK national governments-funded may be charged for registering identity provider entities.
Request for service
Membership requests are to be submitted in writing as defined in our UK Access Management Federation signup form.
Entity registrations requests are to be made via email to service@ukfederation.org.uk.
Service delivery time
Membership requests will be processed within three business days of receipt of all necessary information.
Entity registrations will be processed within two business days of receipt of all necessary information for existing registrations and within five business days of receipt of all necessary information for new registrations.
Terms and conditions
Please ensure your organisation understands and adheres to our terms and conditions.
GDPR
Information provided to Jisc will be used as described in our standard privacy notice, to provide the service the customer has requested, as well as to identify problems or ways to make the service better. Jisc will keep the information until we are told that the customer no longer wishes to be a member and/or participate.
Escalation
See the federation rules of membership.
Service performance reporting requirements
Reporting definitions
- Outages and availability for current month:
- Number of failures
- Overall down time in minutes
- Percentage availability for month
- Rolling 12 month percentage availability - Number of new members joined in current month
- By exception, instances where the service delivery time was not met, giving the number of working days taken and the reason for the delay
Service description
A service that provides organisations with:
- A federated access infrastructure for participating UK educational organisations and education based service providers. This includes a UK federation metadata registry service with nightly updates of entity registration
- A helpdesk providing technical, general federated access queries and membership and registration support available by phone via the service desk 0300 300 2212 or email via service@ukfederation.org.uk
Hours of service
The metadata registry service and helpdesk are available during the business day as defined in service level description definitions.
Security
Organisations must ensure they understand and adhere to our security policy and UK federation rules of membership.
Charges
Organisations that are not UK national governments-funded may be charged for registering identity provider entities.
Request for service
Membership requests are to be submitted in writing as defined in our UK Access Management Federation signup form.
Entity registrations requests are to be made via email to service@ukfederation.org.uk.
Service delivery time
Membership requests will be processed within three business days of receipt of all necessary information.
Entity registrations will be processed within two business days of receipt of all necessary information for existing registrations and within five business days of receipt of all necessary information for new registrations.
Terms and conditions
Please ensure your organisation understands and adheres to our terms and conditions.
GDPR
Information provided to Jisc will be used as described in our standard privacy notice, to provide the service the customer has requested, as well as to identify problems or ways to make the service better. Jisc will keep the information until we are told that the customer no longer wishes to be a member and/or participate.
Escalation
See the federation rules of membership.
Service performance reporting requirements
Reporting definitions
- Outages and availability for current month:
- Number of failures
- Overall down time in minutes
- Percentage availability for month
- Rolling 12 month percentage availability - Number of new members joined in current month
- By exception, instances where the service delivery time was not met, giving the number of working days taken and the reason for the delay
Not quite ready to implement the UK federation?
There are different routes to access the UK federation. Complementing the free UK federation service desk, Jisc can provide extra help to prepare your IT infrastructure.
Our trust and identity consultancy service offers bespoke support for federated identity services such as Shibboleth (a non-proprietary, free software). We can support you with installation, updates and migrations, linking to other services, troubleshooting, and sustainability advice and planning.
ISO certification
Our UK Access Management Federation service is included within the scope of our ISO9001 and ISO27001 certificates.
