The new GOV.UK Forms platform is ready to enter a public beta phase, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced.
It said the platform, developed by the Government Digital Service (GDS), is to be rolled out across central government.
It does not require coding or design skills and enables civil servants to create and manage secure online forms and the public to complete them more quickly and easily than the PDF forms or paperwork that is currently widely used.
The beta phase follows successful trials in which the tool has been used by more than 300 sub-postmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal to apply for redress, by members of the public to register XL bully dogs and to recruit over 400 volunteer coastguards.
So far, 87 forms have been published with over with over 1,200 government users adopting the platform.
DSIT said the tool has already saved more than two years in processing time.
Ministerial launch
Minister for AI and Digital Government Feryal Clark will launch the full roll out of GOV.UK Forms at the Digital Nations Ministerial Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark today.
She said: “We’re enabling citizens to access essential government services more easily and securely, whether it’s applying for long overdue compensation or to become a volunteer.
“Not only will this modernise how the public interacts with us, but it allows departments to focus resources on improving public services - rather than administrative tasks.
“This early success marks the start of our ongoing mission to refine digital tools, building trust and ensuring government works for everyone, everywhere.”
No need for coding
Christine Bellamy, CEO of GDS, said: “GOV.UK Forms enables people running government services to create online forms in minutes, without the need for coding or design skills.
“By enabling teams to replace paper based forms with digital alternatives that are quicker to process, more secure and more accessible, we’re helping to realise a more modern digital government that helps to give people their time back.”
DSIT added that platform complies with government standards on accessibility and cyber security.
The development of GOV.UK Forms began in 2021 and moved into ‘early access’ testing in November of last year. At that time Ian Boyd, engagement lead for the programme, said GDS wanted to test the features of the platform in a way that would enable it to “scale up confidently”.
The platform includes controls such as user management, which enables departments to manage who can publish forms, and GDS has published guidance on best practice in creating forms.
The initiative is part of GDS’s work in creating common components for digital services in government.
