The Government Digital Service Sets out Plans for GOV.UK Notify to Go Local

16 Aug 2017 02:47 PM

techUK welcomes the roll-out to local government and encourages continued collaboration with industry as service develops.

GOV.UK Notify to Be Rolled-out to Local Government

Back In July, we held a joint event with the Government Digital Service (GDS) at techUK where they shared its vision and plans for public sector transformation with the tech supplier community. In addition to this, demos of four Government as a Platform products were also provided, including GOV.UK Verify, Notify and Pay.

Since the event, GDS has announced that GOV.UK Notify is now ready to be offered to local government. Now well established in central government, the Government’s digital communication platform will be rolled-out across local government too. GDS will be inviting 20 service teams to start testing the service over the next few months, with the aim to then open up to the rest of local government.

In the GDS blog, Peter Herlihy outlines “local government needs for sending notifications are very similar to those of central government. During the invite-only period we’ll learn what’s different for local government in terms of branding and paying to use Notify.”

Local government service teams interested in using Notify are encouraged to contact GOV.UK.

Commenting on this, Rob Driver – Head of Public Sector, techUK, said:

“techUK welcomes the move of GOV.UK Notify being rolled-out to local government as part of a consistent and unified approach to public service transformation and in helping to build a smarter state. We welcome the move to applying models and approaches that have worked well centrally to the local level, but also ensuring the different requirements of local government are met."

“Digital transformation will be vital to protecting our public services amid rising public sector debt and demand on usage. As such, continued collaboration with the tech industry as new services are developed and rolled-out is essential. techUK looks forward to continued working with GDS on the implementation of the Government Transformation Strategy, working together to build the smarter state and unlocking the next wave of transformation.”

Do you have any views on GOV.UK Notify going local? Tell us what you think using #techUKlocalgov

Further Information

• How suppliers can benefit from Government as a Platform (Government Digital Service Blog)
• Shaping the ‘Smarter State’
• Inventing the Future: techUK Manifesto 2017