New Gov.uk app ‘will let people access Government services all in one place’
The new app, set for release late next year, would bring together hundreds of Gov.uk services in one place with one log-in.
A new app will enable the public to access dozens of Government services, such as changing a driving licence, from one place for the first time, it has been announced.
Stephen Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has unveiled plans for a Gov.uk app which will verify a user’s identity using facial recognition or fingerprint scanning tools already available on smartphones.
The app will merge the nearly 200 ways people can currently create a Gov.uk account into a single log-in process, the Cabinet Office said, and will allow people to access more than 300 Government services directly.
It said the app would help people access services more easily, instead of having to go through multiple online processes and repeated sign-ins, as well as having to remember multiple usernames and passwords.
Mr Barclay said the new app had been created in response to the pandemic and heightened public expectations for accessing Government services online.
“Now more than ever, it is important that Government responds to people’s heightened expectations about the services they use,” Mr Barclay said.
“During the pandemic, people have had to interact with Government services in a variety of new ways, including the NHS app and the vaccine booking service.
“People rightly expect Government to be data-driven and digitally literate, and this will be a priority for me in my new role.”
The Cabinet Office said the app is being developed with data security at its heart and would be optional to use, with access still available to Government services in different ways if people prefer.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the app is expected to launch in late 2022, and could also eventually include the ability to send notifications to users when their driver’s licence is about to expire or if a change in policy may affect them, for example around benefit payments.
The project is set to replace Verify, a previous single log-in system for Gov.uk which was abandoned earlier this year after failing to attract the predicted number of users despite reportedly costing more than £150 million.
