GOV.UK Pay API

Name: GOV.UK Pay API API
Brand: GOV.UK Pay API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecPaymentsPayment ProcessingapiKey10 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Create payment sessions, capture delayed payments, issue refunds, and track payment events for UK government digital services through GOV.UK Pay.

Connect the GOV.UK Pay API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the GOV.UK Pay API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Install Jentic One Beta (Self-Hosted)

Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh

Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with GOV.UK Pay API API.

Create payment sessions with configurable amounts and reference metadata for government services

Capture delayed payments after manual review or service confirmation

Issue full and partial refunds on completed payments with status tracking

Retrieve detailed payment event histories for audit and reconciliation

GET STARTED

Start building with GOV.UK Pay API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use GOV.UK Pay API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Government Service Payment Collection

Accept payments from citizens for government services such as licence applications, permit fees, or fines. The API creates a payment session and returns a URL to the GOV.UK hosted payment page where the citizen enters their card details. After payment, the API confirms success and provides a reference for the service to proceed with fulfilment. No PCI compliance required from the service team.

Create a payment for 85.00 GBP with reference 'LICENCE-2026-001' and description 'Driving licence renewal' via POST /v1/payments and retrieve the payment page URL

Refund Processing for Government Payments

Issue refunds to citizens when government services need to return funds, such as overpayments, cancelled applications, or duplicate charges. The API supports both full and partial refunds on completed payments. Refund status can be tracked via dedicated endpoints, providing audit trails for financial reconciliation across government departments.

Issue a partial refund of 25.00 GBP on payment {paymentId} via POST /v1/payments/{paymentId}/refunds with the refund amount

Payment Audit and Reconciliation

Retrieve payment events and search across all transactions for financial reporting and audit purposes. Each payment maintains a complete event log from creation through completion or failure. The search endpoint supports filtering by reference, status, creation date, and amount range, enabling automated reconciliation between government accounting systems and GOV.UK Pay records.

Retrieve all payment events for payment {paymentId} via GET /v1/payments/{paymentId}/events and verify the payment completed successfully

AI Agent Government Payment Operations via Jentic

AI agents use Jentic to create payments, issue refunds, and query payment status for UK government services without managing API keys or implementing the GOV.UK Pay request format manually. Jentic stores the API key securely and provides operation schemas so agents can perform payment operations with validated inputs.

Search Jentic for 'create a government payment', load the operation schema, and execute it to create a 50.00 GBP payment for a permit application

Key Endpoints

10 endpoints — the gov.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/v1/payments

Create a new payment session

GET

/v1/payments/{paymentId}

Retrieve payment details and status

POST

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/cancel

Cancel a pending payment

POST

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/capture

Capture a delayed payment

GET

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/events

Get payment event history

POST

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/refunds

Issue a refund

GET

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/refunds/{refundId}

Get refund status

GET

/v1/refunds

Search across all refunds

POST

/v1/payments

Create a new payment session

GET

/v1/payments/{paymentId}

Retrieve payment details and status

POST

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/cancel

Cancel a pending payment

POST

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/capture

Capture a delayed payment

GET

/v1/payments/{paymentId}/events

Get payment event history

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

GOV.UK Pay API keys are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem). Agents receive authenticated requests — the raw API key never enters the agent's context window.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'create a payment for a government service') and Jentic returns the matching GOV.UK Pay operation with its input schema including amount, reference, and return URL fields.

Time to first call

Direct GOV.UK Pay integration: 2-3 days for API key provisioning, testing, and return URL setup. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load schema, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Stripe API

Commercial payment platform with broader method coverage and global reach

Choose Stripe when the use case is commercial (not UK government) or requires payment methods beyond cards, subscriptions, or multi-currency support.

Alternative

Adyen Checkout API

Enterprise payment orchestration for high-volume commercial merchants

Choose Adyen when the organization is a large commercial entity needing enterprise payment features. GOV.UK Pay is exclusively for UK public sector services.

Complementary

Mollie API

European payment gateway with iDEAL, SEPA, and local method support

Use Mollie alongside GOV.UK Pay when a government-adjacent body needs to accept European payment methods not supported by GOV.UK Pay for cross-border services.

FAQs

Specific to using GOV.UK Pay API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the GOV.UK Pay API use?

The GOV.UK Pay API uses an API key passed in the Authorization header. Each service gets a unique API key from the GOV.UK Pay admin tool. Through Jentic, the API key is stored in the MAXsystem vault and injected into requests automatically — agents never handle the raw key.

Can I issue partial refunds with the GOV.UK Pay API?

Yes. The POST /v1/payments/{paymentId}/refunds endpoint accepts an amount field. You can refund any amount up to the original payment total. Multiple partial refunds are allowed on the same payment as long as the cumulative total does not exceed the original charge.

What are the rate limits for the GOV.UK Pay API?

GOV.UK Pay applies rate limits per API key. Standard service accounts are limited to 15 requests per second across all endpoints. The API returns 429 Too Many Requests when exceeded. For high-volume services, contact the GOV.UK Pay team for increased limits.

How do I create a payment for a government service through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'create a government payment' to find the POST /v1/payments operation. Jentic returns the input schema showing required fields: amount (in pence), reference, description, and return_url. Execute through Jentic and receive the payment page URL to redirect the citizen. Install with pip install jentic.

Can I track the full lifecycle of a payment?

Yes. GET /v1/payments/{paymentId}/events returns a timestamped list of all state changes including created, started, submitted, confirmed, captured, and any failures. This provides a complete audit trail for each payment without external logging.

What is delayed capture and when should I use it?

Delayed capture holds the payment authorization without collecting funds immediately. Use POST /v1/payments with a capture delay flag, then POST /v1/payments/{paymentId}/capture when ready to collect. This suits services that need manual review or confirmation before charging, such as booking-based permits.