GDS is collaborating closely with tax agency as work continues on the crucial challenge of migrating major public services and tens of millions of citizens from ageing Government Gateway system
HM Revenue and Customs’ work to migrate services and users from Government Gateway to One Login is set to expand in the coming weeks to include a small number of public users.
The tax agency last year began the initial stages of adopting the new Whitehall-wide sign-in technology. In doing so, HMRC will finally leave behind the 24-year-old Government Gateway system – which has more than 50 million registered accounts.
In the latest progress update on the migration process, AI and digital government minister Feryal Clark revealed that the department – working closely with the Government Digital Service – is currently working through private beta phases to support integration between One Login and HMRC’s services. Private beta is described by government guidance as an exercise that “involves inviting a limited number of people to use your service so you can get feedback and improve it”.
For HMRC, the next part of the beta process – marking a move from internal to external users – will get underway in the spring. Then, during the rest of 2025, those newly registering for the department’s services will do so via One Login. After which existing registrants will be moved from Government Gateway to the new system in tranches, according to Clark.
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“GDS and HMRC continue to collaborate on delivering the technical requirements necessary to go-live and conducting end-to-end testing within GOV.UK One Login as part of its ongoing internal private beta phase to support users accessing HMRC services,” she said. “The aim is to launch an external private beta in Spring 2025, followed by a rollout to all new users over the remainder of the year, with existing HMRC users included in subsequent phases.”
The process of getting HMRC – and the tens and millions of citizens that use its online services – up and running on One Login is one of the most important challenges facing the new cross-government sign-in platform.
Speaking a year ago, then GDS chief executive Tom Read said that “our single biggest priority for 2024 is partnering with HMRC to migrate the millions of Government Gateway users across to our new GOV.UK One Login platform”.
Despite the progress of this migration work to date, in September HMRC went to market indicating its intention to find a credit-reference agency to help verify the identity of users of Government Gateway from 2026 onwards.
To help reach users – particularly those who might face the most difficulties in accessing One Login – GDS is engaged in a potential £670,000 deal with PR firm Four Agency. PublicTechnology exclusively revealed last week that the comms outfit has been retained to “maintain a clear drumbeat narrative that raises awareness [and] inspires confidence” in the new system.
One Login has already been implemented by 50 individual government services, and more than four million people have created an account. The sign-in tool is intended to provide a single, ubiquitous replacement for what was previously a patchwork of almost 200 separate accounts systems used across government.
Clark’s update on the progress of this work was provided in response to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MP Alex Burghart – who, prior to the general election, was the minister responsible for digital government matters.