UK Government To Explore Open Banking Digital Payments For Public Services

The UK government plans to explore the likelihood of integrating open banking features within Gov.UK Pay. Gov.UK Pay is a government service that organizations in the public sector can use to accept online card payments.

UK government to explore open banking in Gov.UK Pay

The initiative is the latest move by the UK public sector to show interest in tapping the possibilities offered by the fintech sector to improve service delivery. The plan was announced in a blog post by the deputy director of digital service platforms in the Government Digital Service (GDS), Amanda Dahl.

Dahl outlined these plans in the “How Common platforms deliver brilliant digital services” paper. She highlighted the recent achievements made by the GDS and offered an update on the planned priorities by the government. She also said that towards the end of the year, the government would investigate how Gov.UK Pay could offer open banking services with people having the option to pay for the services conveniently through a banking app.

The UK government has been actively looking to integrate open banking services. HM Revenue & Customs (HMR) secured a fintech solution allowing the department to obtain payments through open banking platforms in March 2021. The department has become a global pioneer in a government use case for open banking.

Another agency that has adopted open banking service is the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) that the Cabinet Office sponsors. It started processing the creation of a dynamic purchasing system for open banking services and their use across the central government and the public sector.

While announcing the plans for Gov.UK Pay, Dahl said, “GOV.UK Notify is also 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.”

Developments on Gov.UK Pay

GOV.UK Pay has secured 163 services over the past year, including the NHS Business Authority and the Forestry Commission to help them process online digital service payments. Dahl noted that the platform had processed 23 million payments and £1.3 billion in cash value over the past financial year.

GOV.UK Pay has also released a new Recurring Card Payments feature that allows local residents to save and use payment details in ongoing regular payments. The Gov.UK Design System also launched Gov.UK Frontend v4.7.0, which helps vulnerable users navigate the page.

The Version 13 of the Gov.UK Prototype Kit also makes it easy to update the kit, and create and implement prototype changes. As such, the platform has also simplified the installation process making it easy for users to get started.

Another critical development has been the delivery of Emergency Alerts that warn people about a possible danger to life. The platform has also published a new site that consolidates all its products on a single platform making it easier for government users to find out what they need from this platform.