Millions of UK citizens manage tax through the HMRC mobile app

Capgemini collaborates with HMRC to develop and evolve a highly accessible native mobile app to make managing tax processes easier and more efficient for customers

Client challenge: HMRC wanted to respond to customer needs, technological advancements, and rising digital expectations in addition to enhancing user experience when managing personal tax matters.
Solution: To offer a more digital and personalized interaction for its customers, HMRC collaborated with Capgemini and third-party specialists to develop a native mobile app – bringing together robust user research, technological expertise, emerging technologies, and creative innovations.
Benefits:

Tax processes are easier and more efficient
Customers can access tax information 24/7
Improved user experience
Increased customer engagement

Enhancing the UK tax experience

Before its mobile app was launched, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) faced several challenges that necessitated a monumental change in approach to better serve customers in a digital age. Societal and technological advances, rising digital expectations, and a greater emphasis on data privacy meant the department needed a new way to drive two-way customer engagement and enable customers to interact with the UK government about personal tax matters 24/7.

HMRC partnered with Capgemini to develop the mobile app, which would provide a seamless multichannel user experience across mobile and web. Doing so would enhance the user experience, and future-proof the department’s digital services as part of a broader effort to make HMRC a world leader in digital tax transformation. There has been a notable customer channel shift to “self-serve,” allowing for timesaving and efficiency wins – currently, 50% of all personal tax sessions occur through the app, up from less than 10% in 2019.

Designing for humans through continuous collaboration

Capgemini provided robust user research, innovative thinking, and technical expertise while helping to leverage the benefits of emerging technologies by building new partnerships with third-party specialists to implement features such as open banking.

A collaborative approach brought together experts from both Capgemini and HMRC, including architects, developers, QA engineers, product managers, UX/UI designers, and business analysts, all of whom worked together to ensure efficient resource allocation and smooth implementation. This joint team employed a user-centered design approach wherein they gathered insights and feedback through a mix of research methods to uncover user requirements, pain points, and behaviors so that effective changes could be implemented.

The first version of the app prioritized user experience, security, and accessibility, making a native app the preferred choice. It was built using a standard component library with accessibility features like screen readers and voice-over functionalities included.

In addition to following iOS and Android Guidelines, the app incorporated a recognizable look-and-feel based on Government Digital Service (GDS) Guidance, ensuring consistency in terms of naming, structure, and design across platforms. As a result, the HMRC app was instantly identifiable as a UK Government digital product, allowing customers to feel secure and reassured during their transactions.

Designing for mobile use presented unique challenges. Not only did live service need to be maintained to ensure a seamless user experience, but the project team also needed to thoroughly understand the user journey. This helped to ensure the app could handle interruptions such as phone calls, allowing users to resume their app tasks and interactions smoothly and pick up in the same place without having to start afresh.

Accessibility focus

Capgemini accessibility champions regularly assessed the app, helping to raise awareness and drive improvements. This led to the creation of a custom component library that prioritized accessibility in design and evolution.

The team focused on making the app accessible by developing custom components that aid customers, such as enabling the app to surface important tax details for the user and reducing the number of clicks required. Additionally, the app can adjust to personal device settings, like zoomed text and dark mode. The team also built custom language toggling features within the app to support the Welsh language.

Delivering a better mobile app experience

Since its launch, the HMRC app has enabled over seven million customers to interact with the UK government about personal tax matters, offering access to information at any time and making tax processes easier and more efficient, with two million new customers using the app in 2024 alone.

As the app has scaled, high user satisfaction has been maintained, including achieving ratings of 4.7 (Google Play) and 4.8 (AppStore) respectively, based on reviews of actual customers.

In the last year, the HMRC app has:

Had more than 100 million sessions
Over 2 million new users
Received £652 million Self Assessment payments
Seen a 77% increase in downloads in the 16-25 age group
Consistently featured in the top spot of UK app finance charts

Looking to the future

Remarkable progress was made in the development of this mobile channel, evolving it from a basic tax calculator in 2012 to the top-rated app serving over 1.6 million regular users in 2024. Recent features, like real-time pay and tax data, personalized notifications, and simplified payments through open banking and API platforms have made it the primary channel for HMRC and customers to engage with each other.

The successful collaboration that led to the development of this app, has provided a strong foundation for the future, paving the way for further enhancements as HMRC continues to make tax even easier for citizens of the UK.