UK government launches GOV.UK digital services app for smartphones
The UK government has launched the first version of its GOV.UK app to provide citizens with digital access to government services and benefits.
The app’s initial release to British citizens aged 16 and over yesterday (1 July) marks what the Government Digital Service (GDS) described in a statement as “an overhaul to the experience of using the GOV.UK website… to bring public services more in line with what people are used to when they bank or shop from their phones”.
The GOV.UK website is visited 88 million times every month, and there are currently around 12 million holders of a GOV.UK One Login account, which is needed to access the new app. The government told Global Government Forum that the number of One Login account holders is increasing every week. It estimates that most of the UK population will have one by the end of 2025.
The new app includes 11 service features: benefits, business, care, driving and transport, employment, health and disability, money and tax, parenting and guardianship, retirement, studying and training, and travelling abroad. Users can also register their post code to find local services run by their council.
The app currently directs users to existing government webpages, though the government expects to add further functionality later in the year.
‘Just the start’ of government transformation
Peter Kyle, the UK’s technology secretary, said the app’s launch was “just the start”.
“By putting public services in your pocket, we will do away with clunky paper forms and hours spent on hold, so you can immediately get the information you need and continue on with the rest of your day,” he said.
“You will then get personal notifications, reminding you when your MOT is due or whether you need to register to vote, and then you will be able to closely track your childcare credits just as you do your bank account.”
Kyle also teased forthcoming features of the app such as “GOV.UK Chat”, an AI tool trained on 700,000 pages of the government website and provided by Amazon-backed AI firm Anthropic, that he said would give citizens reliable answers to “any question you like about government services”.
Between today’s release and a full end-user campaign set to begin in autumn, the government said it would seek to understand how the app might be improved based on initial user experiences.
The launch builds on the digital blueprint for government, a policy paper released in January that includes a six-point plan for digital service reform, as well as several tools the government said would make it “much easier for people and businesses to interact with the government, saving time and transforming the public services”.
Read more: New UK digital services plan aims to ‘transform the relationship between citizen and state’
GOV.UK Wallet
Later this year, the government is expected to launch its GOV.UK Wallet app, which will contain a pilot digital driving licence for citizens to use when they’re required to prove their age online or in person.
Payments such tax returns and applications for universal credit can also be made through the app. The government said it wants to develop the app’s payment functions further, and has been engaging digital credential organisations to explore possible future partnerships.
The app’s features will also include a wallet to store government identity documents, starting with veterans’ cards and digital driving licences. Announcing the wallet in January, Kyle said this means that the wallet will enable, over time, government services that require identity to go into the app itself.
Watch: How to build digital credentials that work for all
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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