June 5, 2026
Payback with extra side-eye
Adyen Selected as Payment Services Provider for GOV.UK Pay
Government payment shake-up sparks side-eye, links and one very specific XML grudge
TLDR: GOV.UK Pay is switching from Stripe to Adyen to process online payments for about 1,000 public services, a major move affecting how people pay councils, police and other agencies. Commenters didn’t gush — they mostly brought links, skepticism and one sharply memorable complaint about Adyen feeling old-school and cumbersome.
The UK government has picked Adyen to handle online payments for around 1,000 public services, replacing Stripe for things like council bills, police payments and other official checkout screens. On paper, it’s a big, tidy modernization story: GOV.UK Pay says the switch will help it add new ways to pay, including direct bank payments, while keeping everything running smoothly for the public. Translation: the government wants paying online to feel less clunky and more like the rest of the internet.
But in the comments, the real drama wasn’t applause — it was skeptical eyebrow-raising. One commenter immediately dropped the official GDS blog post, another tossed in the matching Hacker News thread, giving the whole thing a very “receipts attached” energy. And then came the spiciest mood-setter of all: a user asking if Adyen is still an “XML heavy integration partner”, based on their old casino-job trauma. Oof.
That one line basically stole the show. There wasn’t a full-on flame war here, but there was a classic tech-community vibe: official announcement meets veteran scar tissue. The funniest part? In a story about modern, seamless public payments, the standout reaction was basically, “Cool, but is this secretly still a pain?” Nothing says internet trust like bringing up decade-old integration baggage the second a shiny new deal drops.
Key Points
- •The UK Government Digital Service appointed Adyen as the new payment services provider for GOV.UK Pay’s non-Crown card payments and pay by bank services.
- •Public sector organisations using GOV.UK Pay will transition from Stripe to Adyen for payment processing.
- •GOV.UK Pay has processed more than £9 billion through over 135 million transactions since launching in 2016.
- •About 1,000 public sector services are expected to migrate to Adyen’s platform in phases, with continuity of service intended during the transition.
- •The appointment followed a competitive procurement process and is part of GOV.UK Pay’s plan to modernise payments and add methods including pay by bank.