I was astonished to find recently that for house conveyancing your ID needs to be refreshed every 3 months. We used a firm of solicitors for probate 5 months ago and all 3 executors trooped into the Wiltshire family solicitor's office to produce passports, council tax bills, etc.
5 months on, the parent's house is under offer and I am told we all have to go through the process again "as it's been 3 months since we last produced witnessed documents"
So we either make the pilgrimage from all over the UK or get a local solicitor to do the necessary (for a fee). In past years I was able to get a friend who is a High Court judge to witness and sign documents but this is no longer acceptable apparently.
Money laundering goes on at an industrial scale in the UK, enabled by the big financial institutions (who are occasionally fined and slapped on the wrist). They'd be better off taking that seriously instead of bringing in petty regulation that seems to me at least like gesture politics.