GOV.UK Pay explores mobile wallets for local government and open banking

Government Digital Service (GDS) is rolling out new payment functions as part of its plan to become “first choice” in building new online services. 

GDS has outlined plans to update the GOV.UK Pay Platform by enabling local authorities to take payments via mobile wallets. The tool is already available to central government agencies, allowing them to accept payments via smartphone-based wallet systems such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. 

Opening this option up to local authorities will be “a great benefit to people who are paying for government services on the go - like paying for Clean Air Zone charges,” said Amanda Dahl, GDS deputy director of digital service platforms.

“It’s my vision for the future that any team in government, regardless of their technical skills, can deliver usable, accessible digital services that integrate seamlessly with GOV.UK, so our new mission is to integrate our products to enable that to happen,” she said. 

To this end, GDS is also exploring the possibility of incorporating an open banking function into GOV.UK, which means that people will have the option to pay for services conveniently using their own banking app. 

“With all digital products, it’s important to continue developing them based on user needs,” Dahl explained. 

Another of the department’s well established services is also getting new features: The GOV.UK Notify messaging platform is launching the ability to add attachments and QR codes to letters, which will enable more government services to use the product to communicate to citizens.

“Creating common platforms means understanding the issues faced right across government services, and to this end we are constantly learning and sharing with government teams both in the UK and around the world” Dahl said.