The Government Digital Services platform (GDS) will begin sending notifications to people via Gov.uk Notify as early as March this year as it launches the beta version of the platform.
GOV.UK Notfiy is the latest project in the government-as-a-platform strategy and the first notifications sent through the platform will be to people applying for lasting power of attorney.
The aim of the project is to allow members of the public to be informed about the progress of an application without having to phone up a call centre.
According to the government it receives millions of calls every year, mostly from people wanting to know the progress of an application or a service.
Peter Herlihy of GDS said the platform enables service teams to send notifications to users in two ways – for example, “a simple integration of their web applications or back-office systems, or they can use our interface to upload batches of messages they have built or extracted from other systems.”
He said in order to provide flexibility and resilience several text, email and post providers will be involved, which will be given a standard allowance of texts, emails and letters which will be paid for by the GDS under central funding.
Herlihy added: “We are hopeful that many services won’t need more than the free allowance – in which case, GOV.UK Notify will be completely free.
“We are working out the allowances and rates, and we will provide a clear and transparent model for any costs we will need to Pass on to service teams.”
The GDS hopes to have all services using GOV.UK Notfiy in the future.