Digital strategy for Scotland: sustainable digital public services - delivery plan 2025-2028

2. Common Approaches

By rolling out common digital infrastructure for re-use across the public sector, services can become better integrated, creating a better experience for users and saving significant public money.

Enabling public sector organisations to use what we know works, allows service providers to be confident that the services they offer are secure and trustworthy.

This does not mean that services are standardised to meet one set of needs. Through these initiatives we are developing the means for services to be more targeted, responsive to people’s needs and easier to access.

Summary of deliverables 2025-2028

To be delivered jointly

2.1 Public sector register of common solutions and common components

2.2 Personalised public services and the development of a public services app

To be delivered by the Scottish Government

2.3 Digital mailbox

2.4 Personalised public services

2.5 Reuse of common platforms and components

2.6 Digital licences

2.7 Digital development consents

To be delivered by Local Government

2.8 Common digital components

2.9 Common back-office systems

2.10 Common end-to-end customer experiences

2. Common Approaches: deliverables

Joint deliverables

2.1 Public sector register of common solutions and common components

By 2028, working collaboratively, the Scottish Government and Local Government will create a central public sector register of common solutions and common components. This will provide a definitive source of information about re-usable digital solutions in the public sector, allowing public bodies to understand what is available, how these work, and how they might re-use them.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see published resources such as a catalogue of services, components, architecture, and terms of use. We will use joint platforms like Once for Scotland to promote these resources.

Sponsor: Nia Lewis (Acting Deputy Director, Digital Services, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government) and Martyn Wallace (Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government)

2.2 Personalised public services and the development of a public services app

By 2028, the Scottish Government will have developed an app that lets users access government services on their phone or computer, just like they do with banking or shopping apps (see 2.5 below). We will work collaboratively with COSLA and individual Local Authorities to consider how they might adopt and make best use of this app.

Sponsor: Nia Lewis (Acting Deputy Director, Digital Services, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government) and Martyn Wallace (Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government)

Scottish Government deliverables

The following are part of ‘Scotland’s Public Service Reform Strategy – Delivering for Scotland (June 2025)’:

2.3 Digital mailbox

By 2028, the Scottish Government will deliver a new secure mailbox service and will have moved more correspondence onto digital channels.

As we progress with this initiative, you can expect the launch of the Mycare.scot application (co-created by COSLA and the Digital Health and Care Directorate within the Scottish Government) to which will be piloted from December 2025. This pilot will utilise the Scottish Government’s new secure mailbox service, making it easier for people to interact with health and social care services.

We are also working with Rent Services Scotland, Food Standards Scotland, and Local Government on adopting the tool with future deliveries planned.

Sponsor: Isaac Smith (Deputy Director Digital Components and Infrastructure, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government)

2.4 Personalised public services

The Scottish Government will establish a common approach to digital channels so that people in Scotland are able to transact with public services. By 2026, the Scottish Government will deliver a pilot of a new app that will be integrated with other digital components, providing a gateway for people to access personalised public services.

This will offer Scottish citizens flexible, accessible, responsive, and personalised services; and will enable them to receive services, notifications, securely store and recall important documents on their mobile device.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see at least one service available by the end of 2026, with a pipeline of Scottish Government and public sector services ready to deliver through this new channel.

Sponsor: Nia Lewis (Acting Deputy Director, Digital Services, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government)

2.5 Reuse of common platforms and components

By 2028, the Scottish Government will have embedded a suite of common platforms and components across the public sector to reduce both duplication and the cost of service delivery. Common platforms will also increase the pace at which we can implement change and scale up services.

A vital component, currently in development, is ScotAccount. This is a secure and trustworthy mechanism by which the public can prove their identity and/or entitlement to a public service or benefit online. NHS Education for Scotland and Social Security Scotland are currently testing this service.

Another component is our common payments platform, ScotPayments. ScotPayments will standardise the way the public sector makes (and in the near future takes) payments to, and from, citizens and businesses. A live public beta launch will occur in late 2025/early 2026 and following this, the service will be made available for the wider Scottish public sector.

By 2026, we will also continue to move public sector workloads onto the the Scottish Government Cloud Platform Service, and develop additional features such as FinOps and GitHub to increase the efficiency of the platform. By 2027, we will achieve Cyber Essentials Plus certification and adhere to HMG Cyber Assessment Framework to offer increased assurances about the security of the service.

These common components are foundational for the development of personalised digital public services through the public services app (mentioned above at 2.2).

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see ScotAccount, ScotPayments and SG Cloud used in more services across the public sector.

Sponsor: Isaac Smith (Deputy Director Digital Components and Infrastructure, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government)

In addition to the above deliverables outlined in Scotland’s 2025 ‘Public Service Reform Strategy’ the Scottish Government will also deliver the following by 2028:

2.6 Digital licenses

By 2028, the Scottish Government will have delivered an end-to-end digital solution for issuing digital licenses, permits, authorisations and certificates.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• an initial proof of concept tested with Food Standards Scotland, which will evidence the potential for all license issuing across the public sector to be built on the same components and service journeys
• following the successful proof of concept and roll-out as a live service our pipeline includes SQA, SDS, Education Scotland, Local Government, SEPA, Marine Scotland, Police Scotland (firearms licensing). We are proactively building our pipeline

Sponsor: Salvador Llopis-Quinn (Chief Digital Architect, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government)

2.7 Digital development consents

By 2028, the Scottish Government will deliver a transformed digital service to apply for planning and building consents. This shared service will operate across all local and planning authorities in Scotland. The Scottish Government will work closely with Local Government on a phased development and delivery, enabling value to be realised early. Phase 1 is expected to be rolled out in Autumn 2026, with Phase 2 in 2027, and Phase 3 in 2028.

As we work to deliver this you can expect to see:

• Improved functionality, streamlined processes, and a better user experience. Phase 1 will transform the user journey for making applications, and will include a new way of paying, better guidance, and other improvements such as bulk file uploads and file naming conventions.
• Functionality introduced in Phases 2 and 3 will support Local Government efficiency and productivity improvements by delivering assessment ready applications.

Sponsor: Nia Lewis (Acting Deputy Director, Digital Services, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government)

Local Government deliverables

2.8 Common digital components

By 2028, we will expand the adoption of shared digital components already available within Local Government, the Scottish Government, and the wider UK public sector. By enabling Local Authorities to share and reuse these digital solutions, we will reduce duplication and avoid unnecessary costs. This collaborative approach will deliver more consistent customer experiences across councils, making it easier for citizens to access Local Government services that align with the look and feel of applications used throughout the Scottish public sector.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• more consistent customer experiences across councils, making it simpler for residents to interact with Local Government services.

Senior Responsible Officer: Martyn Wallace (Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government)

2.9 Common back-office systems

By 2028, Local Government will increase the sharing of common back-office solutions, building on the success of the shared telecare Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) solution, which already delivers consistent and efficient telecare support for vulnerable citizens and reduces technology overhead and duplication among councils. Comprehensive feasibility studies and business cases will assess shared digital approaches for housing, fleet, social work case management, security operations and licensing. These initiatives aim to support wider adoption of digital solutions that benefit both councils and communities.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• successful transition of councils to the shared telecare ARC platform
• documented operational savings and service improvements
• publication of feasibility study findings, business cases and recommendations
• launch of pilot projects in partnership with councils
• active engagement and consultation with stakeholders on shared solutions

Senior Responsible Officer: Martyn Wallace (Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government)

2.10 Common end-to-end customer experiences

By 2028, Local Government will work collaboratively to deliver common, end-to-end digital customer experiences for key Local Government services, ensuring that residents, businesses, and visitors can easily navigate and access seamless service journeys across Scotland. This will be particularly beneficial where customers (such as businesses) have requirements that span council boundaries.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• the introduction of a national visitor levy, which will serve as a flagship example, demonstrating how a uniform digital process can be designed and implemented across all Local Authorities
• this approach will provide a standardised digital pathway for those Local Authority areas that introduce a transitional visitor levy for guests to pay, councils to administer, and businesses to manage compliance, reducing administrative burden and improving public understanding
• reduction in manual processing and administrative overheads for councils
• adaptation of the end-to-end approach for other Scotland-wide services

Senior Responsible Officer: Martyn Wallace (Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government)

What does delivery mean for people in Scotland?

Delivery of these common approaches commitments will result in a better, more consistent experience for people accessing public services online, regardless of where they live in Scotland. It will be easier to navigate across different services, and people will find these more responsive to their individual needs, while being assured that the public sector is working efficiently to make best use of public money.

Common approaches: beyond 2028

Our components and services are already built with basic performance tracking and the ability to measure aspects of the user experience, such as time taken to perform a specific task, and failure rates.

However, collecting robust data about how users interact with digital government is easier once we are able to aggregate these individual components (or ‘building blocks’) into complete service journeys. This information will become available through the Public Services app. This will be a focus for the next iteration of the digital public services delivery plan, so that we can drive further improvements.