Go live

Follow these steps to start taking real payments from users.

Before you start

You must:

• have successfully finished testing your integration using your test account
• read about payment service provider (PSP) fees (Stripe only)
• have a secure domain for your service, because you must use HTTPS for the return_url when you create a payment in a live service (does not apply if you use payment links)
• sign up for updates on the GOV.UK Pay status page, so you get a notification when there’s an incident
• know how to contact us to report an incident or if you need help going live

Compared to your test account, your live account may have a:

• slower response time, because GOV.UK Pay must wait for responses from your payment service provider (PSP)
• lower transaction limit - check with your PSP

1. Request a live GOV.UK Pay account

You’ll need to:

• provide your organisation’s name and address
• tell us if you’ll be using GOV.UK Pay’s PSP Stripe, or another PSP
• read and accept our legal terms

Select your test (‘sandbox’) account or your test Stripe account in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool, then select Request a live account.

We’ll respond within one working day, and we can usually activate your live account on the same day.

Your live account will appear on the Overview page in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool, labelled Live account.

You can still use your test account.

2. Connect your live account to your PSP

Once you have a GOV.UK Pay live account, you must connect that account to your payment service provider (PSP).

Use our guidance to:

• connect your live account to Stripe, GOV.UK Pay’s current PSP
• connect your live account to Worldpay using a contract through Government Banking

If either GOV.UK Pay’s or Government Banking’s PSP changes, we’ll work with you to move you to the new PSP.

3. Choose which card types to accept

Choose which card types to accept by selecting the account in the GOV.UK admin tool and selecting Settings.

If you use Worldpay, you must also make sure that you select the same card types in your PSP account.

You can also block prepaid cards.

Accept American Express if you use Worldpay

If you use Worldpay and you want to accept American Express cards, you must contact either Government Banking or your Worldpay account manager

You must send your American Express merchant ID to Government Banking or Worldpay if you’re a non-Crown merchant.

4. Check your settings match your test account

You need to make the following changes to your live account if you made them to your test account:

• add a custom paragraph to payment confirmation emails
• switch off sending payment confirmation emails
• switch off collecting your users’ billing addresses
• switch on sending refund confirmation emails
• add payment links

5. Check your live account works

To check your live account works, you must make a real payment and then check if that payment was successful.

You make a real payment using either:

• the GOV.UK Pay API if you have integrated with the API
• a payment link if you are using payment links

Make a payment using the GOV.UK Pay API

1. Select your live account from the Overview page in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.

2. Select Settings, then API keys.

3. Create a new live API key.

4. Make a real payment using the new live API key.

   You must use a real payment card. Use a small amount, because GOV.UK Pay will take the payment from the card you use.

   If you want to see the payment in your bank account, make sure the payment amount will be above the minimum payout after your PSP has taken their fees. If your PSP is Stripe, we recommend a test payment of at least £2.

Make a payment using a payment link

1. Select your live account from the Overview page in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.

2. Create a payment link on your live account.

3. Make a real payment using the live payment link.

   You must use a real payment card. Use a small amount, because GOV.UK Pay will take the payment from the card you use.

   If you want to see the payment in your bank account, make sure the payment amount will be above the minimum payout after your PSP has taken their fees. If your PSP is Stripe, we recommend a test payment of at least £2.

Check that the payment was successful

1. After you’ve confirmed the payment, check you received a confirmation email.

2. Check the payment appears in your live transactions in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.

3. Select the payment and check you can refund it. It may take up to 20 minutes for the Refund payment button to appear.

If your payment or refund fails, check:

• you connected your live account to your PSP correctly
• your ‘risk management’ settings if your PSP is Worldpay

You can also check your PSP settings by selecting Settings from your account in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.