Changes to the way IPO fees are paid
We are changing the way fees are made to the IPO. We will be moving to use GOV.UK Pay for online payments and using shorter payment references.
A more seamless payment experience
From 23 August 2021, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) joins over 200 other UK government organisations in taking fee payments using GOV.UK Pay.
All fees paid online to the IPO using a credit or debit card will be made using the GOV.UK Pay service. GOV.UK Pay is secure and fully Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant. It is used and trusted across government to take payments for over 500 different services.
The new screens will provide all the same options as the Barclaycard service we have used for the last 4 years. The big difference regular online customers will notice is that they no longer move away from GOV.UK branded screens when making a payment.
Deposit account holders’ payment options will not change.
A shorter payment reference
We are making an improvement to the process of paying fees for paper forms. The online process for paying these fees remains the same, with one small change. Instead of receiving a 16 character reference after you make a fee payment, you will now receive a 10 character payment reference. This is what you will enter onto the IPO form you are completing.
Customers have told us that the previous reference was very long and easily confused with a credit card number. Moving to a shorter reference removes that confusion and makes it easier to enter accurately on our forms.
Service disruption weekend of 21 to 22 August 2021
We plan to implement the above changes to our payment systems over the weekend of 21 to 22 August 2021. Customers accessing fee-bearing online services may experience disruption over these two days and we apologise for any inconvenience this causes.
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)
New banking industry rules come into force over the next few months to reduce online fraud. Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) may mean that you are asked by your bank to verify your identity using a ‘second factor’ when making online payments. Visit the FCA website for more information.