Credit: Crown Copyright/Open Government Licence v3.0

The new unified login system through which citizens will be able to access a comprehensive range of government services will go live with its first five services in September.

Work began on One Login two years ago, and the system is now ready to launch with its first online tools. The platform, which will ultimately work alongside the first-ever dedicated GOV.UK app, is intended to provide a single account through which citizens can access all public services delivered across departments. It will replace an existing collection of almost 200 separate accounts, encompassing 44 different sign-in methods.

The recently published government digital and data strategy – dubbed Transforming for a digital future – sets out a commitment that: “All departments will confirm an adoption strategy and roadmap for One Login… by April 2023, and their services will have begun onboarding by 2025.”

Before which, the first five services will go live shortly on a pilot basis.

Speaking to journalists at an event last week to launch the new strategy, minister Heather Wheeler said that one of these will a “veterans’ service”, and another will be a service from “HM Land Registry, where you can actually put your mortgage details on the land registry for your own property”.

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A third will be a service for professional vehicle operators delivered by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.

PublicTechnology asked the Cabinet Office for full details of all five services taking part, but was told this will be confirmed later.

The minister said that the gradual approach to rolling out the new system is deliberate, and has taken lessons from the failures of previous technology transformation programmes that have tried to do too much at once.

“One of the things that we’ve learnt is: let's not do ‘big bang’,” she said. “Let's actually try and make sure that this works. And then that will get huge public buy-in right the way across.”

Wheeler – who added that the complexity of some of the existing login methods, including the still widely used Government Gateway, “drives everybody up the wall” – said that government will back the One Login rollout with strong public messaging.

“We will go big on those pilots,” she said.

The digital strategy covers the period up to 2025. Over the same timeframe, the ongoing development and rollout of One Login will receive at least £100m of funding allocated in the three-year spending review conducted in November 2021. This includes £30m for upfront capital costs, and £75m of resource funding for day-to-day operations.