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.
Recently released
Accessibility
We made changes to GOV.UK Pay to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (WCAG 2.2), so that the product can be used by as many people as possible. We have:
- updated the prefilled payment fields and take a payment pages in our tech docs, so that public sector services know how to meet the WCAG 2.2 redundant entry requirement
- upgraded GOV.UK Pay to version 5.0 of GOV.UK Frontend, so that we’re using the most up-to-date design patterns
- updated our accessibility statement
Library upgrades
We replaced old Node.js libraries across our apps and upgraded GOV.UK Pay to use Dropwizard 3 and Java 21. This makes sure we’re running our service on fully supported third-party software and code.
Database upgrades
We upgraded all of our databases in GOV.UK Pay to a newer Postgres version.
Corporate exemptions
We integrated with Worldpay’s corporate card exemption flow to meet card scheme requirements for a selection of services who have a significant portion of business payees.
What we’re doing now
Updating the Settings pages in the admin tool
We’re making changes to the Settings pages in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool so they're clearer and simpler. This will make it easier for public sector teams to manage their services and switch easily between live and test modes.
Accepting new payment types
We're updating GOV.UK Pay to manage not just card payments but other ways to pay as well. This change is important because it means paying users of public sector services will have more options in future, making GOV.UK Pay able to adapt to different needs. More payment options make it simpler for everyone to use public sector services in the way that works best for them, and allows more public services to benefit from using us. We plan to use pay by bank, which could make payments faster and cheaper while keeping them secure.
Procuring new card and pay by bank payment suppliers
We're completing a procurement exercise to get the best card and pay by bank suppliers. This will make sure service teams and paying users have the best value for money and experience when using GOV.UK Pay.
What's next
Integrate with new card payment suppliers
Once we’ve procured new card payment suppliers, we’ll integrate them with GOV.UK Pay.
Release pay by bank to a small number of public sector services
We want to integrate GOV.UK Pay with a pay by bank supplier so we can release pay by bank for a small number of public sector services. This will allow users to pay for public sector services with their banking app or online banking. We’ll use what we learn from this work to improve pay by bank before releasing it to more public sector services.
Complete our 2025 Payment Card Industry assessment
In June 2025, we’ll complete our 2025 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard 4.0 assessment to review our processes and make sure we’re keeping users’ information safe.
Meet Visa card scheme data field requirements
Card schemes are doing more to prevent and combat fraud. As a result, from August 2025, Visa require us to send some data fields with payments. We'll need to make changes in GOV.UK Pay to accommodate this for services and tell them about the change.
Future plans
Improve database performance
We want to make some changes to one of our largest databases to improve its performance. This means public sector service teams will be able to complete large transaction searches in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool more quickly and efficiently.
Multi-factor authentication reset
We want to automate the process for public sector service users to reset the multi-factor authentication on their GOV.UK Pay account. This means that users will be able to regain access to their account without intervention from the GOV.UK Pay team, saving time while maintaining security.
Improve the paying user journey
We want to make incremental changes to the payment pages, including investigating whether we should remove the Confirm page from the user journey. This could reduce friction for paying users and make it easier for them to pay for public sector services online.
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.