Research and analysis

GOV.UK Wallet user survey

Published 26 February 2026

1. Why a survey was carried out 

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is designing and building the GOV.UK Wallet. This will allow you to securely store government-issued documents on your phone, so you can show them to prove things when useful. 

As part of the early design work, GDS undertook user research in November 2024 to help understand users’ needs around a digital wallet for official documents. GDS wanted to learn about current usage, appeal and clarity of the concept, trust and expectations of delivery.

2. Caveats

There are 3 caveats to these findings:

1. This is a snapshot in time. The survey ran in November 2024.
2. The survey was carried out online only, therefore it might not have captured the views of people who do not have an online presence.
3. This survey forms part of a larger programme of user research around the development of the GOV.UK Wallet. It is therefore just the beginning of work in this area.

3. Methodology

Fieldwork was commissioned to Discovery Research Ltd and ran from 1 to 11 November 2024.

The survey included 2,000 respondents (ages 13 and over). It was nationally representative in terms of age, gender, region and social grade, and enabled a 95% statistical confidence level. The results reported here are statistically significant at that confidence level.

The survey was piloted with 30 participants to ensure that the questionnaire was understood fully, and to allow for the refinement of wording and response options. 

Standard data quality checks were undertaken both during and after fieldwork to make sure results were as accurate as possible (for example, checking whether respondents were completing the survey too quickly, or with a high proportion of “do not know” or “prefer not to answer” responses).

4. Headline results

The main aspects covered by the survey were:

• current usage of digital wallets
• appeal and clarity of the digital wallet concept
• trust – that when sharing data with online services it is handled securely
• expectations of delivery around who should develop and operate a digital wallet for official government documents

4.1 Current usage

People were asked:

Do you currently use any digital wallets on your mobile phone, which allow you to make purchases online/in shops; store gift cards or event tickets; authenticate a user’s identity (for example Apple Wallet, Google Wallet)?

The results were that:

• 46% of respondents answered yes
• 54% of respondents answered no

This result was similar to one seen in the Financial Lives survey (2022) by the Financial Conduct Authority, where 47% of respondents agreed that they currently use a digital wallet.

4.2 Appeal and clarity of the concept

People were asked:

How appealing is the idea of having a digital wallet for storing and accessing digital versions of your official government documents, such as your driving licence, National Insurance number or right to work in the UK?

The result was that 70% of respondents agreed that the concept is either very or fairly appealing.

People were also asked:

How clear or unclear is this proposed digital wallet for storing official government documents to you?

The result was that 97% of respondents agreed that the concept is either very or fairly clear.

This indicates that the digital wallet concept is appealing, and clear, to a majority of people.

4.3 Trust

For this aspect of the survey, 74% of respondents strongly or slightly agreed with the statement:

I trust that when sharing personal data with online services run by GOV.UK it is handled securely by them.

This indicates there is a high degree of trust in sharing personal data with government services run by GOV.UK.

4.4 Expectations of delivery

When people were asked to conclude the statement:

I would expect a digital wallet for official government documents to be a smartphone app that has been developed and run by…

• 80% of respondents answered “GOV.UK”
• 4% of respondents answered “a private sector company”
• 11% of respondents answered either of them
• 4% of respondents answered neither of them

This indicates that a majority of people expect the wallet to be delivered and run as a government service.

4.5 Likelihood of usage

People were asked:

How likely would you be to use the digital wallet, if it was developed and run by GOV.UK?

The result was that 75% of respondents said they are very or fairly likely to use the digital wallet if it was developed and run by GOV.UK.

These results are similar to those around trust, suggesting that likelihood of usage might be correlated with trust.