The Skull Cinema

A few years ago I set up a new company in the UK. The government here has invested quite heavily in digital services so this can be almost entirely completed on-line. You begin the process by notifying Companies House , the venerable UK registrar for companies (for 180 years this year), that you have set up a company. In order for you to do that on-line the Government needs to have some sort of user registration system and one that is a bit more secure than your regular website. Enter the Government Gateway , a government-wide ID system launched in 2001. It was initially designed to be a one-stop-shop that would provide a log-on solution for all of the UK government's on-line services. Whether you were a business/organisation or an individual citizen, with security credentials backed up by GCHQ no less. The Companies House process was exceptionally straightforward and a Government Gateway ID (GG ID) was set up by Companies House for the business. No problems. Another early task...

As described earlier , here are the instructions from HMRC on how to delete a Government Gateway ID (GG ID), should you choose to do so. 1. Login to your account with the GG ID you wish to delete. You'll need your GG user ID and password. This will also require access to your second factor authorisation device. 2. Once logged on, select the ‘ Manage account ’ option at the top of your homepage. 3. On the next page choose the ‘ View or change your business tax account details ’ link under the ‘ Account details ’ heading. 4. On the following page select the ‘ Manage your Government Gateway details ’ link at the right-hand side of the page. 5. On the page after, choose the ‘ Your Government Gateway profile ’ option under the ' Your profile and settings ' heading at the right of the page. 6. Finally, on the next page choose the ‘ Delete my Government Gateway user ID ’ option at the bottom of the page. 7. Confirm that you want to delete your user ID ...