All UK public sector entities, such as the central government, local authorities, NHS, schools, charities, and public administrations will be able to access the DPS.

Users of the DPS will be able to access NatWest’s open banking solutions, Payit by NatWest, which also includes Confirmation of Payee (CoP) API services to prevent fraud.

CEO of Payit by NatWest, Mike Elliff, stated: “After becoming the first country in the world to accept tax payments via Open Banking, this DPS will give the public sector access to a pool of pre-qualified suppliers. NatWest is delighted to be the first UK bank appointed to the DPS. Open banking is a key part of the UK financial ecosystem and seeing it integrated into the public sector is encouraging.

“Individuals and businesses rely on NatWest to pay and get paid, which is why as a group we’re entrusted with 1 in 4 UK transactions. Our proven and secure infrastructure enables billions of payments every day. We combine the scale and resilience of a bank with the speed and innovation of a fintech to bring new payment services to our customers quickly and safely.”

CCS supports the public sector in gaining commercial value when purchasing goods and services, in 2021-2022, the service supported the public sector in gaining commercial benefits equal to £2.8 billion.

NatWest is currently the largest card supplier in the CCS Payment Solutions 2 framework, and already is one of two House Banks on the Government Banking contract.