Person making a payment with a credit card and a lap top

Top 5 Benefits of GOV.UK Pay

Here at SDS we have been exploring customer expectations when making payments to local councils along with the service’s requirements for processing that payment. We have also researched the key market leaders in payment solutions and found that GOV.UK pay meets many of the user needs we have identified.

Customer Expectations 

Customers expect a range of payment options, automated communications such as receipts, confirmation and next steps and the ability to interact on a wide range of channels seamlessly.

A change in user habits and improvements in technology has led to simpler and quicker payments. In the UK, 57% people say they use cash less than they did a year ago with 47% of people carrying less than £5 on their person. Despite this, cash payments are still relied upon by some people, and therefore it remains a payment option for many local councils.

GOV.UK Pay

GOV.UK Pay was created by the Government Digital Service (GDS) for public services to enable authorities to take and process payments. GOV.UK Pay stands alone from other payment gateways as it was created by the public sector for the public sector. We have complied a list of the top 5 benefits to using GOV.UK Pay:

  1. Procurement: The GOV.UK Pay platform is free to use for local government. Unlike other payment providers, local authorities are not locked into a contract to use the system.
  2. Price: Using GOV.UK Pay allows access to centrally negotiated rates. Local authorities are able to bring in their contracts with their PSPs including WorldPay, SmartPay and Barclays ePDQ.
  3. No cost for additional features: GOV.UK Pay provides 24 hour emergency support and does not charge support fees. In addition, there are no additional charges for extra features such as custom branding and integrations including ApplePay and GooglePay.
  4. Trustworthy and compliant: Using GOV.UK Pay enables customers to see a trusted gov.uk domain, coupled with full business branding. The GOV.UK Pay platform is fully accessibility compliant and responsive on all devices. These features can help to reduce barriers in the payment process and increase conversion rates.
  5. Implementation: Implementing GOV.UK Pay enables an automatic or 1 day onboarding process with a new PSP. Implementation can be completed in-house to create payment links for new payment pages within minutes.

Payment Research Report 

If you would like to access our full research report, including the user requirements we have captured and the range of payment solutions we have explored, please get in touch.