UK government to trial new single sign-on system for Gov.uk

The UK government is to trial the introduction of user accounts on its Gov.uk web domain, in the latest attempt to offer a single sign-on system and improved personalisation for citizens accessing online public services.

In a blog post, head of Gov.uk Jen Allum said the Government Digital Service (GDS) is planning a “series of experiments” of a service called Gov.uk Accounts. From October, a limited number of people will be given the chance to create their own personal accounts to use on parts of Gov.uk.

The Cabinet Office said in a statement that accounts will make it easier for people to find the services they need and will mean they don’t have to repeatedly fill in the same pieces of information, such as names and addresses, to access different government services.

Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez said: “I know how annoying it can be to have to input the same information into a website several times or fail to get an important update because you haven’t registered for a particular alert – having a Gov.uk account will prevent that.”

If the initial trial is a success, the Cabinet Office said it will be rolled out to allow more people to create accounts if they want to. It added that those who do not want to create an account will still be able to access the full range of government services online.

Allum pointed out that there are already over 100 places on the government website where users can log in – with little commonality between them. The new service aims to “unify this experience”, so users “don’t need to start from scratch each time they need to do something with the government”, she said.

“At Gov.uk we want to keep up with users’ expectations and make the most of changes in technology to provide the best possible public services,” said Allum in the blog post.

“This matters because it is efficient for government, and efficient for the user – getting the right things to the right people at the right time.

“We want to unify this experience – not to create an ‘uber CRM’ for the government – but to give users continuity... A centralised Gov.uk account will be new to people, and there are valid concerns about data use and privacy. We’re working to get a better understanding of how users feel about the government providing a service in this way.”

GDS has previously talked about adding personalisation functionality to Gov.uk so that user experiences can be tailored to individual needs or preferences. This could also allow GDS to better understand how people use the website.

In October last year, Whitehall departments signed up to a data sharing plan to allow GDS access to Google Analytics data about activity across the website. Although government services operate on a single domain with common design standards, departments still maintain their own web presence in that domain.

“We’d like to simplify journeys to proactively offer information and services to users based on their needs and what they’ve told us about themselves, [and] reduce friction for users so that they don’t have to give different parts of government the same information multiple times,” said Allum.

However, there is no guarantee that the work on Gov.uk Accounts will lead to a full service, until future funding has been confirmed. “We have a Comprehensive Spending Review ahead, and this work has many dependencies if it is to be successful,” said Allum.