Prime Highlights-
- GDS forms a new team with DBIST to build a unified, personalized GOV.UK experience for businesses.
- Joint research identifies at least 160 business-related government services marked by fragmentation and duplication.
Key Facts-
- GDS plans phased delivery rather than a single launch, starting with early GOV.UK content improvements.
- DBIST aims to cut business administrative burdens by 25 percent, worth 5.6 billion pounds, by the end of Parliament.
Background-
The Government Digital Service has set up a new team tasked with building a unified GOV.UK experience for businesses, aiming to cut fragmentation across government services.
The team will work alongside the newly formed Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to deliver what the two organizations describe as a single, proactive and personalized experience for business through GOV.UK.
Joint research by GDS and the department identified at least 160 government services tied to business, highlighting the complexity companies currently face when dealing with the public sector.
Starting a business today often means navigating multiple pieces of guidance across different government organizations and web pages, along with managing more than one logged-in account, covering everything from business registration to employment legislation and sector-specific compliance.
GDS and the department want to streamline that experience into a single place for businesses to interact with government, using GOV.UK’s existing channels and capabilities.
This would help businesses understand where to start, find funding opportunities and access relevant expertise and professional networks, while a more consistent approach could also reduce duplication and support fraud prevention efforts.
The initiative builds on the State of Digital Government Review and the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, both of which flagged fragmented digital services as a barrier to improvement.
GDS plans to roll out changes in phases rather than through a single launch, combining its digital transformation expertise with the department’s relationships with businesses, HMRC and Companies House.
The programme also supports the government’s wider growth agenda, with the department committed to cutting administrative burdens on businesses by 25 percent, worth an estimated 5.6 billion pounds, by the end of Parliament.
