In a significant shift, the public will be able to download the new app on their phone to easily access official information and cut life-admin instead of using the GOV.UK website
Brits will be able to receive smartphone alerts for weather warnings, a new bank holiday or the date of elections on a new GOV.UK app launched on Tuesday.
A basic version of the app has been released at first, paving the way for digital driver’s licences and veterans ID cards to be introduced later this year.
In a significant shift, the public will be able to download the new app on their phone to easily access official information and cut life-admin. The first phase of the app will allow users to personalise their app homepage with useful sections for them, such as benefits, parenting or tax information.
Users will also be able to set up notifications, if they wish, so they can receive broadcasts from the government, including about weather alerts or a new bank holiday. In time, Brits will also be able to set up more personalised notifications, including to remind them when their car tax or passport needs renewing or to stay updated on travel advice in a country they are due to visit.
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One official gave the example of an elderly couple who received a parking fine after not realising their blue badge needed renewing, and said the app would be able to send them a reminder to avoid this scenario.
One of the next tools to be added will be an AI chatbot that will allow Brits to get quick answers to questions, such as what support new parents can access or how to set up a business, instead of having to face the 700,000 pages on the GOV.UK website. Users will in time also be able to deal with different government benefits, such as sorting childcare allowance, through the app.
The digital wallet will follow later this year, firstly with veterans cards, then a pilot of driving licences. The wallet will be optional, with those who wish to retain physical ID cards able to do so.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said most people are “frustrated” by the amount of time it takes for them to get information from a government service. He said Brits are constantly faced with “time-consuming, laborious, unsatisfactory” experiences when trying to book a GP appointment, get employment advice from a jobcentre or register a birth, death or marriage.
Speaking to the Mirror at an east London launch of the GOV.UK app, he said: “Government has been left in the previous century when it comes to delivering our public services. Millions of people each year have to wait for notifications through the post. People have to sit for hours and hours on the phone.
“How many people interact with government and feel satisfied at the end of it? Why can’t we aspire to have a kind of satisfying experience in the same way people do when they’re doing shopping and they’re doing banking and they’re doing other commercial services and using their apps?”
Mr Kyle said he hopes the new GOV.UK app could save regular users of the website hours of time each week. He praised the quick progress of the app coming to fruition but added that this was “only the beginning”.
He said he has set the target for all government cards to be part of the app’s digital wallet by 2027, and that he was “actively exploring” how to make passports digital in the future.
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