Roadmap

We want to keep making GOV.UK Pay better by adding new features and making sure it's safe and works well for both public sector service teams and paying users.

This is a record of what we've done, and a plan for what we want to improve next. Our plans can change based on what we learn from testing the product and speaking to our users. We work in 3-monthly cycles.

Recently released

Recurring card payments

The first service has started using recurring payments through GOV.UK Pay. Kent County Council are using it for their Trading Standards Checked service. This makes it simpler for people to pay for things regularly and easier for service teams to collect payments. If you're interested in using recurring payments, get in touch.

Digital wallets

GOV.UK Pay now lets people pay for local government and police services (using Stripe as their provider) using Apple Pay and Google Pay. Previously this was only available to central government and NHS services using Worldpay. Wallets make paying safer and easier, and help more payments go through successfully by reducing mistakes associated with manually typing card information.

Data security standard

By passing an assessment called the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard for 2023, we've made our security stronger. This takes the complexity of dealing with these rules away from public service teams. It also means that GOV.UK Pay can safely manage personal information when users are making payments.

Use an external telephone payment system to send card details to the API

Services can now use external telephone payment systems to collect card details and send them to GOV.UK Pay via a new API. This allows these payments to be processed and reported in the same way as online payments through GOV.UK Pay.

What we’re doing now

Learning about open banking

We're looking at using open banking, which could make payments faster and cheaper while keeping them secure.

Accepting new payment types

Related to the open banking work, we're updating our system to manage not just card payments but other ways to pay as well. This change is important because it means paying users of government services will have more options, making GOV.UK Pay able to adapt to different needs. More payment options make it simpler for everyone to use government services in the way that works best for them, and allows more public services to benefit from using us. We're looking at using open banking, which could make payments faster and cheaper while keeping them secure.

Accessibility

We're making sure our service can be used by everyone, following the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (WCAG 2.2).

Data deletion

We have reviewed our data retention schedules. We continue to make sure personal data is deleted or redacted within 7 years.

Database upgrades

We are upgrading 5 of our main databases in GOV.UK Pay to the latest Postgres version.

What's next

Recurring payments improvements

We'll use feedback from services and paying users to improve how recurring payments work.

Improving transaction search

We're going to make it easier to find and manage transactions in the admin tool.

Strengthening our security

We're getting ready for a new security standard called Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard 4.0 to keep users' information safe.

Future plans

Procuring new card payment suppliers

We're planning to get the best new card payment suppliers, to make sure service teams and paying users have the best value for money and experience when using GOV.UK Pay.

Improve how we handle data

We want to define a data organisation model to make Pay more efficient, improving performance and providing better value for money.

Improve payment reconciliation

We want to simplify the processes with Stripe and Worldpay to help service teams reconcile payments more quickly and efficiently.

Annual security checks

We'll continue to stay up to date with our annual PCI compliance evaluations, meeting our commitment to keep our users' payment experience safe and secure.

Linking with other government finance systems

We want to make it easier to connect GOV.UK Pay with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This can reduce the need to manually process data when doing reconciliations and refunds.

Get in touch

Email govuk-pay-support@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk if you’d like to be involved in research, if you have any questions, or if there are other features you’d like us to develop.

Sign up to GOV.UK Pay updates to find out more about what we’re working on and our plans for the future.