In mid-2021 the ability to pay HMRC bills on the GOV.UK website by card or direct debit had long been possible and the Payments team had recently launched Open Banking. With the feature on the web live we’d been asked if we could add a similar feature in the app.

We had a 6-8 week period to research, test and design the payment journey in order to meet the deadline of launching payments in the app by the next Self Assessment window at the start of the next year.

Unlike the web which had multiple options for paying bills the app was only to have one, Open Banking. During the process we identified ways to make the journey more focused, clearer and quicker for customers.

I’ve written in more detail about the things we looked at in the development of the Open Banking payment journey.

Each of the small changes made a big impact improving the experience for customers making payments. HMRC one of the first tax authorities in the world to utilise this technology. In 2024 the app accounted for 9% of all Self Assessment payments being made.