Configure the GOV.UK Design System Service Portal Pages

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated June 1, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configure the GOV.UK Design System Service Portal Pages

    The GOV.UK Developer Toolkit supplies pre-configured, GDS-compliant portal pages for the GOV.UK Design System Service Portal. These pages serve as the foundation for organizing and presenting information to UK constituents, enabling a consistent, accessible user experience aligned with GOV.UK standards. Customers can use these pages as provided or customize them extensively through Service Portal Designer by adding, removing, or modifying widgets and layouts.

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    Key Features

    • Pre-built Portal Pages: Includes essential pages like the UK GDS Home Page, Registration and Login, User Profile, Browse Categories, Case List, Case Details, Knowledge Pages, FAQs, Record Producer, and Error Pages (404, 500, 503).
    • Page Structure: Pages consist of layouts, containers, rows, and widgets structured according to Bootstrap grid standards, allowing flexible design and content placement.
    • Customizable Widgets: Widgets can be added or edited as instances on pages, each configurable without affecting the base widget template. Widget instances enable tailored content and functionality per page.
    • Service Portal Designer Integration: Customers can navigate to the Service Portal Designer within ServiceNow to create, edit, and preview GOV.UK Design System pages, adjusting page properties, layouts, containers, and widget instances.
    • Widget Library: A library of GDS-compliant widgets is provided to support various functional and content needs on portal pages.

    Configuration Guidance

    • Editing Pages: Access and customize pages via All > Service Portal > Service Portal Configuration > Designer. Modify page settings such as title, ID, CSS, and layout composition.
    • Adding Widgets: Use the widget filter to find and drag widgets onto page layouts or containers. Configure each widget’s instance settings to tailor its behavior and appearance.
    • Creating New Pages: Add new GDS-compliant pages as needed and populate them with appropriate widgets from the GOV.UK Developer Toolkit widget library.
    • Specialized Page Configurations: Configure key pages such as Registration/Login pages, Homepage, User Profile, Services, Case List, Case Details, Knowledge, FAQ, and Error pages to meet specific constituent needs while ensuring compliance with GOV.UK design standards.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Quickly deploy a fully GDS-compliant Service Portal tailored for UK government use.
    • Leverage a tested library of pages and widgets to reduce development time and ensure consistency.
    • Maintain flexibility to customize layouts and content to fit organizational requirements and user needs.
    • Improve constituent engagement through intuitive navigation, service access, and case management features.
    • Ensure professional handling of errors and support content with dedicated error and knowledge pages.

    By default, the GOV.UK Developer Toolkit supplies you with pages that can be used as-is, or customized by adding and removing widgets in Service Portal Designer.

    Portal pages

    Use portal pages to organize content and design portal user experiences for your constituents. A page provides the base structure for how a collection of information is displayed in the constituent-facing GOV.UK Design System Service Portal. Pages house elements such as layouts, patterns, containers and rows (which, in turn, house widgets), and other components to display information. By manipulating the layout of the page and the widgets within it, you can construct the desired user experience and display the information your user needs to access.

    • Pages are referenced using the page ID.
    • Pages and its widgets can be referenced in more than one portal.
    • Use base system pages as templates.

    Several pages are included with the GOV.UK Developer Toolkit application for use with the GDS Service Portal. You can use these portal pages as is, or you can customize them to suit your needs. The GDS Service Portal contains the following pages by default:

    Table 1. GOV.UK Design System Service Portal pages
    Page Description
    UK GDS default home page This page serves as an entry point to the GDS portal for UK citizens, enabling access to relevant public services, and navigation to high-priority actions, key information, quick links, and case updates.
    Registration and Login Pages These pages enable a user to register or login to the portal, with different configurable forms and widgets for constituent, business contact, and business, registration.
    User Profile This page provides the basic structure for UK constituents to view and manage their personal profiles, preferences, and activity history.
    Browse Categories Page This page enables UK constituents to view all the public services available to them in the GDS Service Portal.
    Case List Page This page enables UK constituents to view all of their submitted requests for public services.
    UK GDS Case Details page This page standardizes ticket views across the portal, allows UK constituents to track case status and communications, and staff agents to manage case details and documents.
    Configure the GOV.UK Design System Service Portal Knowledge Pages These pages enable UK constituents to browse and search articles and guides, categorized into organized content sections (Featured, Most Useful, Most Viewed), without contacting support.
    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Page This page provides an organized, searchable, and accessible repository of frequently asked questions, enabling users to find answers to common questions about services, submissions, or portal functionality.
    Record Producer Page This page enables UK constituents to submit new cases or requests via a GDS-compliant form.
    Error pages These pages provides the basic structure for GDS-compliant error pages that display error messages with helpful links on a 404, 500, or 503 error.
    Navigate to All > Service Portal > Pages to see the Pages [sp_page] table, which displays a list of pages available for use and customization within the portal.

    Create and edit a GDS Service Portal page using Service Portal Designer

    By default, the GOV.UK Developer Toolkit supplies you with already-configured pages that contain widgets and other elements that adhere to GDS guidelines, but you can create or edit existing pages to organize the columns that house the widgets and widget instances.

    1. Navigate to All > Service Portal > Service Portal Configuration.
    2. Select Designer.
    3. Select UK Government Portal to switch to editing or designing pages for the GDS Service Portal.

    4. From the Service Portal Designer, select a page to customize, or select Add a new page.

      For example, to customize the 503 Service Unavailable error response page for the GDS Service Portal, select UK GDS 503.

    5. Edit page properties by selecting Page settings in the menu bar.

      Here, you can configure properties such as page title and ID, short description, and add page-specific custom CSS.

    6. Optional: Under Layouts, select Container and drag it onto the page, then drag one of the other layouts and place it in the container.

      This layout defines the structure of your page and the space available to place widgets. The structure of the layout aligns with the Bootstrap grid template and adds up to 12. If you are editing an existing page and the existing layout of the page meets your needs, you may skip this step.

    7. Edit container properties by selecting the Container, then selecting the edit icon (edit icon).

      Here, you can customize properties such as container name, width, CSS class, and the background color or image for that particular container (and its widgets).

    8. Use the Widget filter to search for an existing widget, then drag the widget to the container layout to add it to the page.

      Each widget added to a page becomes its own instance. Widget instances get their logic from the base widget template, as well as other set scripts and properties that can be configured specific to that instance. Select the pencil icon () to edit an instance of a widget on this page. You may have multiple instances of the same widget on a page, each with different instance options configured. Editing the instance options of a widget does not affect the properties of the base widget template.

      For widgets that do not contain any information by default, you must configure the options for their widget instances before they will appear on a portal page. For more information about configuring widget instance options, see Configure widget instances.

      For more information on the library of widgets and other page components that are included with the GOV.UK Developer Toolkit and GDS Service Portal, see GOV.UK Developer Toolkit GDS Service Portal Widget Library.

    9. Select the Preview tab to preview your changes to the page, or the new tab icon icon to view the edited page in a new tab.

      Your changes save automatically.

    Result

    The page is created with, or is edited to include, the desired content and widgets.