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ADR-016 - Using Gov.Notify in the Editor

Date: 2026-02-11

Status

✅ Accepted

Context

During 2023, a new feature in the Editor needed to send emails. The team, at the time, decided to test using GOV.UK Notify. This is different from the rest of the platform, the submitter, which uses AWS SES.

Consequences

  • Provides 2 email methods to manage. This added complexity is manageable and need documenting in the Tech Docs.

  • This cannot be rolled out to use in the rest of the platform.

The submitter will attach documents to the email. GOV.UK Notify does not send documents attached, instead it stores the attachment and insert a link in the email body.

This will change our security posture having data and documents saved outside of our platform and change to the GDPR status. However, this decision should be reviewed as a future piece of work (using GOV.UK Notify for the submitter), fully exploring the risks and changes needed to MOJ Forms status as an asset for GDPR.

Retrospective Decision

Using GOV.UK Notify meets the needs for sending emails from the editor, not the submitter